Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railways

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The Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railways (CEBR) is an internet based campaign group formed in 2018 whose aim is to pressure the government to completely electrify the British Railway network. Their slogan is "Down with Dirty Diesel". The campaign promotes the idea that a rolling programme of electrification will improve the UK Railways, help to decarbonise transport and improve the environment. They collaborate with other groups, including the Railway Industry Association, the Rail Delivery Group, the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education,^[1] the Campaign for Better Transport,^[2] the Institute of Electrical Engineers,^[3] and the Permanent Way Institution.^[4] The group has also given evidence to the Transport Select Committee.

Origins[]

The CEBR manifesto states: "The UK has suffered from too many boom and bust infrastructure projects. (This view is supported by others^[5]). A steady, planned, rolling programme will reduce costs, speed up journey times, create more seats on more reliable trains and ultimately reduce ticket prices". The CEBR is a group of like-minded people who have started the campaign and have their own website and Twitter feed. In April 2019, they launched their own Facebook page. They staged a protest on top of Snowdon.^[6] In July 2019, the final report of the rail decarbonisation project was published.^[7]

Main campaign points[]

Many, but not all, diesel trains use only friction brakes (as do cars and trucks) to slow or stop the train. This wears the discs and pads, introducing particulates into the atmosphere.

Electric trains predominantly use the motors in regeneration mode to slow the train, producing almost zero particulates. The technology does not yet exist to stop the train completely.^[8] This would improve the health of the nation but in particular for people who live closer to the railway. In addition, regenerative braking saves energy and is more efficient and thus helps the low-carbon economy. Diesel trains also generate soot and particulates from the engines, often clearly visible in the air. Electrification vastly reduces or even eliminates this problem, thus bringing cleaner and healthier air. Electric power can be sourced from a diversified grid and thus reduce the effects of oil and geopolitics. Petroleum and petroleum-based products were used as a weapon after the Yom Kippur War, quadrupling the price of oil after an OPEC embargo.^[9] The Fuel protests in the United Kingdom, particularly in the year 2000, virtually crippled UK transport and it was only a day away from bringing the diesel railway to a standstill.^[10][11][12]

Railway electrification in Great Britain[]

Railway electrification in Great Britain started in the late 19th century. After World War II and the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and the 1955 Modernisation Plan, electrification commenced in earnest.^[13] There was a pause and then the West Coast Main Line north of Weaver Junction to just south of Glasgow was electrified in the 1970-1974 timeframe. Small amounts then followed and then a spurt of electrification activity occurred in the 1980s. There was then a lull in electrification activity in the mid-1990 to 2009 timeframe. In 2009, Lord Adonis was appointed Secretary of State for Transport. After a gap of more than a decade, electrification was back on the agenda and Adonis announced plans to electrify the Great Western Main Line from London as far as Swansea, as well as infill electrification schemes in the North West of England.^[14] In July 2012 the UK coalition government announced new electrification schemes, all at 25 kV AC and reconfirmed schemes previously announced by Adonis. Devolved rail transport in Scotland has allowed the Scottish government to pursue electrification with multiple schemes in the Central Belt. This has been followed up by a further commitment to a low carbon economy and a modal shift to enable it.^[15]

However, electrification has not been without controversy with horrendous cost overruns and late-running schemes, particularly on the Great Western Main Line. This led to cancellations of projects^[16] and various appearances of the Secretary of State for Transport called before the Transport Select Committee.^[17] Shortly after this, Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railways was launched to try and mitigate the boom and bust cycle.

Future railway electrification in Great Britain[]

The UK government aims to decarbonize all rail transport by 2040, a measure that has broad parliamentary support.^[18][19] In September 2019, Transport for Scotland announced the goal of having Scottish transport net carbon neutral by the year 2035.^[20][21][22] This would be achieved by a rolling programme of electrification and where that is not feasible by using battery and other emerging technology such as hydrogen.

In an attempt to mitigate and improve the cost situation and thus persuade government to backtrack on its electrification cancellations, the Railway Industry Association published a report in March 2019 detailing why costs had risen and suggested ways forward.^[23] Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railways heavily circulated and advertised this report. The central message of this report is that electrification is the way forward and that costs can be contained by learning the lessons and having a rolling program of electrification rather than boom and bust/feast and famine cycles. The answer to a written question in parliament regarding route miles electrified in the years 1997-2019 made rather stark reading.^[24]

In a document dated 31 July 2020 Network Rail published Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy (TDNS) Interim Programme Business Case. This recommended approximately 13,000 STKs (single track kilometres) of further electrification of the UK railways to meet the net zero carbon requirements.^[25] Railways in Scotland are a devolved matter but all parties including the Green Party are vigorously campaigning for electrification.^[26]

Roger Ford, the technical editor of Modern Railways, often writes about similar themes and coined the phrase 'Bionic duckweed". This refers to putting off what needs to be done today because something new in the future may be just around the corner^[27] to refer to schemes that are not based on electrification but alternative technologies such as biodiesel and Hydrogen. Other writers have done likewise including writers for the Financial Times.^[28][29][30] Other authors also cite issues with the huge inefficiency of Hydrogen as opposed to electrification and Hydrogen safety.^[31]

On 23 March 2021 the Transport Select Committee published a report in the 'Trains Fit for the Future" enquiry, which recommended a rolling programme of electrification but allowing for battery and hydrogen to feature but quickly getting no regret electrification schemes going. Greater cost scrutiny was also recommended.^[32] The report was also highlighted in the mainstream press highlighting how Members of Parliament were calling for a rolling programme of electrification.^[33] In March 2021 in the April issue of Modern Railways magazine also reported that work was underway to extend OHL electrification to Market Harborough but that SPL Powerlines contractor was working in conjunction with Network Rail to extend wires beyond this to Sheffield and Nottingham. It was reported that the scheme was being divided into eight distinct route sections.^[34] On 22 April 2021, along with an open letter^[35] to Grant Shapps with fifteen signatures the Railway Industry Association published their report "Why Rail Electrification". It was produced in conjunction with their RailDecarb21 campaign.^{[36][37][38][39]} These set out the case for a rolling programme of rail electrification.^[40] Both main political parties agree.^[41]

In July 2021, the UK Government released the document "Decarbonising transport -a better greener Britain and at the same time released the supporting Rail environmental policy document. These were welcomed by the CEBR.^[42][43] These documents stated that rail electrification had a major role to play in the decarbonising agenda.

On November 18 2021 the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) was published.^[44] This included full Midland Main Line electrification and upgrades. In addition, full Transpennine North electrification was included. However in December 2021 plans were leaked showing the treasury had declined to provide funding to electrify and decarbonise the railways.^[45][46][47]

See also[]

• Committee on Climate Change
• Decarbonisation measures in proposed UK electricity market reform
• Electric battery
• Extinction Rebellion
• Fossil fuel phase-out
• High Speed 2
• History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date
• Hydrogen economy
• List of proposed railway electrification routes in Great Britain
• Low-carbon economy
• United Kingdom Climate Change Programme

References[]

Further reading[]

• Keenor, Garry. Overhead Line Electrification for Railways.
• Boocock, Colin (1991). East Coast Electrification. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1979-7.
• Nock, O.S. (1965). Britain's new railway: Electrification of the London-Midland main lines from Euston to Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Liverpool and Manchester. London: Ian Allan. OCLC 59003738.
• Nock, O.S. (1974). Electric Euston to Glasgow. Ian Allen. ISBN 978-0711005303.

External links[]

• Campaign to Electrify Britain's Railways Website
• Birmingham CEBR
• Green Party for HS2 Website
• Campaign for better transport website
• Rail Future website