Scottish railways are doing their bit for decarbonisation but not Network Rail

"Dr B Ching" in Private Eye no. 1559 reports that, while the Scottish government has a rolling electrification programme, if anything railways south of the border are going backward. Because electrification is so disjointed, with stretches of unimproved line between electrified sections, one freight company, Freightliner has reverted to all diesel working. There are two other issues: the high price charged to operators for electricity and the failure to upgrade historic electrified lines.

Bedford-Kettering was recently electrified for up to 125 mph, but London St Pancras-Bedford was electrified decades ago for 100 mph commuter trains. Network Rail has long known the kit needs upgrading for electric expresses, but has only got as far as "assessing what changes to the existing network would offer the best value for money to enable services to run up to 125 mph".

The London-Sheffield service which should have been all electric by last year, is instead being operated by "Graylings", the former transport minister's potch-job "bi-mode" electro-diesels which can be viewed as diesel trains handicapped by having to carry electric motors or vice versa. Because they can run under diesel power at 125 mph and because the Bedford-Kettering section is only 7 per cent of the route and in any case the diesel engines must restart well before the train reaches the end of the power lines, it is more cost-effective to run the "bi-mode" trains as diesels all the way.

It is ironic that off a section of the Great Western main line scheduled by the coalition government to be electrified, another electrification shelved by Grayling, there is a Global Centre of Rail Excellence which aims to be in the forefront of green railway development.