UK railway electrification news – Page 2

  • Electrification works
    Rail Business UK

    RIA calls on government to accelerate plans to decarbonise rail

    2023-03-13T12:00:00Z

    UK: The Railway Industry Association has launched a RailDecarb23 campaign urging the government to take three steps to accelerate plans to decarbonise rail and reach Net Zero by 2050. These are to: immediately implement a rolling programme of cost-effective electrification on intensively-used lines; ramp-up orders ...

  • Overhead electrification works
    Rail Business UK

    Government must electrify at a faster rate, says Transport Committee

    2023-03-13T05:00:00Z

    UK: To achieve its decarbonisation goals the government must electrify the rail network at a faster rate, according to the Fuelling the future: motive power and connectivity report published by the House of Commons Transport Committee. The report published on March 2 looks across transport modes. ...

  • Electrification renewals (Photo: Network Rail)
    Rail Business UK

    Standards revised to lower electrification costs

    2022-12-14T10:00:00Z

    UK: The Rail Safety & Standards Board has introduced new and revised standards for AC electrification systems and rolling stock which Director of Standards Tom Lee anticipates ‘will help the rail industry save millions of pounds when rolling out new electrification schemes’. The introduction of Standard ...

  • gb-MML overhead line equipment ready to be installed between Market Harborough and Wigston
    Rail Business UK

    Work starts on next section of Midland Main Line electrification

    2022-11-03T12:11:00Z

    UK: Network Rail announced on November 3 that it had started piling work on the next phase of electrification of the Midland Main Line.

  • Northern England electrification priorities
    Rail Business UK

    Electrification priorities in northern England

    2022-10-28T05:00:00Z

    UK: The Railway Industry Association North has published Greener, Faster, Better, setting out which routes in northern England should be prioritised for electrification and where battery or hydrogen could be appropriate. This was one of the key recommendations of RIA North’s previous Building the North’s New ...

  • ScotRail Class 156 (Photo: Tony Miles)
    Rail Business UK

    ScotRail aims to eliminate diesel trains in three-stage fleet renewal plan

    2022-08-10T08:28:00Z

    UK: ScotRail is developing plans to withdraw all of its diesel trains as part of a programme to replace 65% of its fleet in 2027-35. The fleet renewal plans involves replacing around 675 vehicles of various types as their leases expire and it becomes uneconomical to ...

  • Gripple rail dropper 1
    Rail Business UK

    Get a Gripple on electrification at InnoTrans

    2022-08-02T04:00:00Z

    INNOTRANS: Wire joining and tensioning specialist Gripple and Unipart Rail will be launching the Gripple Rail Dropper, which they say enables catenary droppers to be installed up to eight times faster than conventional methods. The Gripple catenary hanger design enables the quick and easy installation of ...

  • TransPennine Express Class 802 on newly wired section of TRU under diesel power (Photo Tony Miles)
    Rail Business UK

    Full electrification in scope as Transpennine Route Upgrade makes progress

    2022-07-20T06:00:00Z

    UK: The Transpennine Route Upgrade is no longer the series of piecemeal interventions and partial electrification that regional stakeholders had feared, with the programme now including significant works to increase speeds and capacity as well as full electrification of the Transpennine North Railway between York and Manchester. ...

  • Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury) Improvement Scheme
    Rail Business UK

    Huddersfield to Dewsbury route upgrading approved

    2022-07-04T08:34:00Z

    UK: The Secretary of State for Transport has approved a Transport & Works Act order granting Network Rail powers to undertake the Huddersfield to Westtown (Dewsbury) Improvement Scheme, which forms part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade. The scheme covers a 13 km section of the trans-Pennine ...

  • gb ScotRail Class 318
    Rail Business UK

    Scotland seeks battery trains in partial electrification plan

    2022-06-06T13:55:00Z

    UK: The Scottish government has approved calls for tenders to finance and manufacture a fleet of bi-mode battery electric multiple-units to operate on the East Kilbride, Fife and Borders routes.

  • Scotrail-156458-Rannoch-Viaduct-020721-TM5
    Rail Business UK

    Scotland: Setting priorities for a new era

    2022-06-06T10:16:00Z

    The return of passenger services to public control, along with government targets for decarbonisation and freight modal shift, promise a positive future for Scotland’s rail network. Tony Miles talks to Transport Scotland and Scotland’s Railway about the benefits and challenges of renationalisation.

  • Electrification
    Rail Business UK

    Midland Main Line electrification market engagement begins

    2022-05-31T12:00:00Z

    UK: Network Rail has begin market engagement ahead of procurement for the Midland Main Line electrification programme to extend 25 kV 50 Hz overhead to Nottingham and Sheffield. Electrification is currently in place from London St Pancras International to Bedford, Kettering and Corby, with East Midlands ...

  • A Freightliner EMD Class 66 locomotive has been modified to test the diesel engine’s ability to use biomethane or hydrogen dual-fuelling as a potential path to lowering carbon emissions from rail freight.
    Rail Business UK

    Dual-fuel Class 66 tested

    2022-05-09T15:40:00Z

    UK: A Freightliner EMD Class 66 locomotive has been modified to test the diesel engine’s ability to use biomethane or hydrogen dual-fuelling as a potential path to lowering carbon emissions from rail freight. The tests used precision injection technology from Clear Air Power. This had previously ...

  • IMAGE prototype composite electrification mast (49)
    Rail Business UK

    Composite mast aims to cut electrification costs

    2022-04-07T06:30:00Z

    UK: A prototype composite mast designed to reduce the costs and carbon emissions of railway electrification projects has been unveiled, ahead of extensive testing to understand the full scope of its capabilities. Branded IMAGE (Innovative composite MAst for Green Electrification), the mast ...

  • MML electrification
    Rail Business UK

    Mixed picture on railway decarbonisation progress

    2022-03-30T14:10:00Z

    UK: The Railway Industry Association has found a ‘mixed picture’ when reviewing the government’s progress in meeting the rail decarbonisation recommendations made in the House of Commons Transport Committee’s Trains fit for the future? report which was published in March last year. ...

  • Freightliner told Rail Business UK it had taken the ‘difficult decision’ to switch from electric to diesel in order to ‘maintain a cost-effective solution for transporting essential goods and supplies around the UK’.
    Rail Business UK

    Diesel replaces electric traction in face of rising power costs

    2021-10-14T15:02:00Z

    UK: Some rail freight operators have temporarily replaced electric haulage with diesel traction, following significant increases in the cost of traction electricity. The increase between September and October is understood to be more than 210%. Network Rail said the costs were the result of price rises ...

  • Avanti West Coast SuperVoyagers at Winwick (Photo Tony Miles)
    Rail Business UK

    On-train air quality standards to be reviewed following RSSB research

    2021-09-16T15:36:00Z

    UK: The Department for Transport has ordered a review of regulations governing exposure to air pollution on trains and at stations, after research commissioned from the Rail Safety & Standards Board found that air quality was ‘poorer than desired’ on some trains using diesel power. RSSB’s ...

  • Electrification works (Photo: Network Rail)
    Rail Business UK

    Wigan to Bolton electrification approved

    2021-09-01T00:01:00Z

    UK: The go-ahead for electrification of the line between Wigan North Western and Lostock Junction near Bolton was announced by the government on September 1. The project will involve 25 kV 50 Hz electrification of around 10 km of double-track line, modifications to 17 bridges and ...

  • Greater Anglia Stadler bimode multiple-unit
    Rail Business UK

    Rail emissions down as services reduced during pandemic

    2021-08-25T14:59:00Z

    UK: The reduction in train services during the coronavirus pandemic unsurprisingly led to a reduction in network-wide diesel and electricity consumption in 2020-21, although the collapse in ridership meant an increase in CO2 equivalent per passenger-km. The Office of Rail & Road has published its latest ...

  • Prodrive Composites
    Rail Business UK

    Composite mast aims to make electrification cheaper, greener and smarter

    2021-08-25T04:00:00Z

    UK: A prototype composite Innovative Mast for Green Electrification is being developed with the aim of reducing the energy required to install overhead electrification, reduce costs and provide smart data to support maintenance planning. The IMAGE project is being undertaken by electrification engineering firm Furrer+Frey, Prodrive ...