Forget the threat of trains fuelled by hydrogen generated by bionic duckweed, it’s the bi-mode that is making electrification redundant
Back in 2006 Department for Transport officials were never short of whacky scenarios to support their antipathy to electrification. But today the only excuse they need is being assembled in Newton Aycliffe.
Here is Transport Secretary Chris Grayling responding during a debate on 17 November 2016, to a Hull MP who had pointed out that the Selby-Hull electrification scheme, which had been part of the Northern transport plan published in March, had been dropped the previous day. Asked why the project was not going forward, Mr Grayling riposted that it was because ‘the train companies got there first’.
Expanding on this bon mot, the Transport Secretary explained that both operators on the route, Hull Trains and TransPennine Express, are acquiring Hitachi bi-mode multiple-units that will be able to exploit electrified sections of route before running on diesel for the 30 miles between Selby and Hull. This is ‘good news for the passengers’, he added. While this applies to the Hull Trains service, TransPennine Express is dependent on the electr…
