The Railway Industry Associations says no action has been taken on five of the 12 recommendations made by the Parliamentary Transport Committee’s Trains fit for the Future inquiry – with only limited progress on four.
In a review of progress, the Association says the Government has made good progress on the development of hydrogen trains, supporting the growth of a domestic battery industry, and setting out how research and development will be supported and properly funded.
However, securing agreement for funding rail decarbonisation, implementing an enhanced financial mechanism beyond that contained in the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline process (which RIA notes still has not been published almost 900 days after it was announced), and exploration of third-rail extension have made little to no progress. Publication of a list of ‘no regret’ electrification schemes still has not happened, and neither has a single cross-modal freight decarbonisation target been revealed.
Commitments to the Midland main line, Transpennine Route Upgrade and Wigan-Bolton electrification are welcomed, but the failure to pub…
