Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to encourage operators and freight companies to move to bi-mode or other technologies instead of having diesel-only rolling stock trains.
In the last three years, we have completed almost 700 track miles of electrification in England and Wales, allowing more electric, battery and bi-mode trains to operate. Since the start of 2019, we have also provided just over £4m of funding through Innovate UK-run First of a Kind competitions for new traction technologies in rail.
In Decarbonising Transport: a Better, Cleaner Britain, we have committed to working with the rail freight industry to incentivise the early take up of low carbon traction for rail freight to help freight operating companies have the confidence they need to invest in replacing current rolling stock.