Slow shift to renewables undermines electric rail plans

Environmental groups are warning that, without a concerted shift to generate power from renewable energy sources, the UK government's £1.1bn rail electrification scheme will have only a limited impact on greenhouse gas emission targets.

The statement follows today's launch by prime minister Gordon Brown and transport secretary Lord Andrew Adonis of plans for the first big electrification of the network since the late 1980s.

The move will lead to an upgrading of the Great Western portion of the network and includes lines running from Liverpool to Manchester and London to Swansea. Work on both will start immediately and is expected to take four years and eight years to complete respectively.

It will also lead to the replacement of ageing Intercity 125 trains with electric Super Express ones. Destinations outside of the target electrification area will by served by hybrid/electric Super Express trains.

Electric trains typically emit between 20 and 35 per cent less carbon per passenger per mile and have zero emissions at the point of use, which means that they do not contribute to air pollution in hot spots such as city centres.

But while Lord Adonis is pushing the scheme as "a vital part of our rail investment and carbon reduction strategies", green charity Friends of the Earth (FoE) believes that it will only go so far.

Richard Dyer, FoE's transport campaigner, said in a statement: "The decision to electrify more of Britain's rail network is good news as electric trains produce up to a third less carbon emissions than diesel trains – but electric trains are only as green as the electricity that powers them."

As a result, to ensure that the network contributes to making "real cuts" in greenhouse gas emissions, "we need the government to fulfil its pledge to massively expand the proportion of our energy generated from renewable sources" , he added.

Currently only 33 per cent of the UK's rail network is currently electrified, although the government's latest move will raise the proportion of journeys made in electric trains from 60 to 67 per cent.

In the coming months, however, the government will also consider whether to introduce further electrification projects, particularly the Midland Main Line and routes between Preston and both Liverpool and Manchester.

It also intends to publish a new rolling stock deployment plan, which will include provisions for electrification, in the autumn.