Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to decarbonise the rail network by 2035, (2) to shift 25 per cent of freight from road to rail by 2030, and (3) to end the sale of fossil fuel-powered ships and decarbonise existing ships by the mid-2030s.

Our recently published ‘Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain’ committed to delivering a net zero rail network by 2050, with sustained carbon reductions in rail along the way, and stated our ambition to remove all diesel-only trains (passenger and freight) from the network by 2040.

The Government continues to support the modal shift of freight from road to rail due to rail freight’s better environmental performance and its contribution to alleviating congestion on Britain’s roads. The Government committed to setting a growth target in its Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, however there is no specific target for moving freight from road to rail by 2030. Further details about the rail freight growth target, including timings, will be confirmed in due course and Government will be working closely with industry partners to develop the target.

The Government continues to incentivise modal shift through the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme, a £20 million scheme in 2021/22, which supports the carriage of freight by rail and water on routes where road haulage has a financial advantage. Additionally, the Government invests significantly in the rail network to improve its capability and capacity for freight. Between 2014-2019, the Government invested over £235 million in the Strategic Freight Network and further infrastructure funding is being made available going forward through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).

The Transport Decarbonisation Plan also sets out our commitment to consult on potential measures to phase out the sale of new, non-zero emission domestic vessels, building on the pathway set out in the 2019 Clean Maritime Plan. Internationally, the UK has played a key role in the development of the International Maritime Organization’s strategy for climate change, and we will be pushing for a zero emissions international shipping industry by 2050 in future negotiations.