Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Rail Freight Group and other freight operators who have stopped using electric trains and have returned to using diesel trains because of the rising price of energy.

The Government fully recognises business concerns around increasing energy prices and we are regularly engaging with the rail freight industry on this issue. The commercial decision to use electric or diesel traction for freight haulage is a matter for individual private sector freight operators.

We continue to support the rail freight sector strongly and recognise that rail freight remains one of the most carbon efficient ways of moving goods over long distances as on average, rail freight trains currently emit around a quarter of the CO2e emissions of HGVs per tonne km travelled.