Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress is being made on developing alternative fuel trains.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to improving energy efficiency as well as reducing emissions and the carbon impacts of transport.
The Department supported a recent successful trial of an independently powered train, an electric train with batteries to enable it to run across the entire rail network. It is also introducing Bi-Mode trains so that it is no longer necessary to run diesel power units when trains are running on electrified sections of the network. It is also closely monitoring trials in Germany of a hydrogen fuel cell powered train, which could be used on the UK rail network.
The Department funds the industry to conduct research; particularly to support the Industry Technical Strategy, which has objectives to develop new, efficient, clean power sources.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of rail franchising.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The benefits of franchising to passengers and taxpayers are clear. The private sector have invested billions in new trains. Government subsidy to the industry has reduced by £2.5bn over ten years. Whilst passenger numbers have doubled since privatisation.
All this is on top of our ongoing £38bn investment in infrastructure. We always assess franchising decisions against the best interests of passengers and taxpayers.