Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to explore green hydrogen as a solution to railway emissions.

The Transport Decarbonisation plan has committed to delivering a net zero rail network by 2050, with an ambition to remove all diesel-only trains from the network by 2040. While Government expects electrification to remain the dominant zero emission technology, the government supports the deployment of alternative traction such as battery and hydrogen to decarbonise the network where it makes operational and economic sense.

Through the First of a Kind competition, the Department granted £750,000 to facilitate trials of the UK's first hydrogen-powered train, HydroFLEX, to enable a better understanding the operational feasibility of hydrogen trains. The government welcomes further innovation of hydrogen technology for the railway and will keep this under review. The Department will continue to work with the Great British Railway Transition Team to develop future options to decarbonise the railway.