Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on UK carbon emissions if a substantial number of travellers switched from using trains to aviation services.

The Department has made no such assessment. Rail is a comparatively green mode of transport, accounting for ten per cent of all miles travelled in the UK but less than 1.4% of UK transport greenhouse gas emissions, and the railway is continuing to become greener as we decarbonise the network. At the same time, we are working hard to decarbonise our aviation sector. The Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution included funding to support aviation fuels and zero emission aviation, and earlier this year the Transport and Business Secretaries launched the Jet Zero Council to accelerate action.