Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to, and what discussions they propose to hold with, the authors of the study Riding Sunbeams: Powering our railways with solar PV, published on 6 December.

The Government is keen to support research into alternative and low emission power sources for the UK railway and welcomes this report. In 2012, the Government asked the Rail Technical Leadership Group (TLG) to develop and deliver a 30 year technical strategy for the railway. One of TLG’s objectives is to reduce carbon emissions, and the Government expects it to take account of this new research as part of its ongoing work.