Decarbonisation dominates the Rail North of the Border Conference

This well attended conference and exhibition on 05 March opened with a video address by Michael Matheson, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, who spoke about the Scottish Government strategy to decarbonise transport with target dates of 2032 for cars, 2035 for passenger rail and 2040 for internal flights. He intimated that the plan for decarbonising rail will be published in the spring, building on the existing rolling programme of electrification, with battery and hydrogen being explored for those areas which are not to be electrified or as a transition. He challenged the industry to deliver electrification efficiently and reduce costs so that more could be done. He also highlighted the ambition to create a strong Scottish capability including the new rail cluster at Longannet. 

Following a panel discussion with Scottish Rail Leaders, the audience heard from RIA Members, Alstom, Hitachi and Siemens on their approaches to the challenges of decarbonisation. The afternoon included Alex Hynes speaking about the progress being made by 'Scotland's Railway', an overview of the Network Rail R&D Programme highlighting a range of projects underway, and Adrian Shooter of Vivarail on their zero carbon trains. RIA's David Clarke spoke about the RIA Electrification Cost Challenge which shows that electrification can and is being delivered cost effectively and the criteria for selecting electrification or zero-carbon self-powered rolling stock (eg Battery or Hydrogen) for different duty cycles in a system-wide decarbonisation programme. The conference was closed by Frazer Henderson the Head of Rail Policy at Transport Scotland who summarised the key messages from the conference including; the clear commitment of the Scottish Government to Decarbonisation, driven by an appropriate mix of electrification, battery and hydrogen, the need to support innovation through for example the rail cluster, the fact that a rolling programme will drive investment in skills and overall the reminder that the rail industry offers a public service which must be appealing and provide high social and economic value. 

Overall it was very encouraging to see the level of appetite of government, rail industry and supply chain to rise to the challenge of decarbonising Scotland's Railways and RIA looks forward to supporting this ambition. It was also great to see so many RIA members attending and exhibiting.