The Scottish Government has set challenging targets for carbon reduction right across the nation, including on the transport network.

The railway industry has a vital role to play in that transition – not only in achieving net zero for rail but also contributing to the achievement of net zero emissions for the whole country.

Thirty seven percent of Scotland’s greenhouse gases are generated by transport. Rail contributes just 1.2% to Scotland’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions, so Scotland’s Railway is in the unique position of being a high capacity, low carbon mode of transport capable of moving both people and heavy goods.
We know that we must play our part in reducing the transport industry’s greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030 and to net zero by 2045.

For the railway, that means removing all diesel trains from the network and completely decarbonising passenger services by 2035.

Whilst rail’s contribution to Scotland’s overall carbon footprint is just 1%, our ability to make a massive impact on the country’s future is what sets us apart.

The Scottish Government’s decarbonisation strategy aims to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030, promoting modal shift from road to rail and to shift to 23% of freight being hauled by rail or sea rather than road. To enable this shift, we have to make sure that rail is as sustainable as possible.
Operating, maintaining and developing Scotland’s Railway infrastructure means we consume a lot of energy and in fact we are one of the largest purchasers and consumers of energy in the UK. There’s a common misconception that our efforts to electrify the railway will take us most of the way towards decarbonisation but that’s simply not the case.

In fact, while electrification is a huge step in the right direction, it’ll only get us a third of the way towards reaching the Scottish Government’s target of net zero by 2045.

To achieve net zero, the entire railway industry must squeeze out carbon from everything we build, everything we buy and everything we use.

That’s why Network Rail, alongside our passenger and freight partners, our supply chain and the wider rail industry are taking a collaborative approach to developing the programme of decarbonisation in Scotland.

Sensible and sustainable decarbonisation
We’re operating in a hugely challenging and ever-changing landscape where achieving our decarbonisation targets must be done in an efficient way that delivers value for money for the long-term.
It has to be done in way that blends traction decarbonisation with lower emissions in our off-track operations. That needs to work well alongside our efforts to protect and improve biodiversity on the railway while managing waste in a better way. And all of that must be underpinned by attracting people out of cars and freight out of lorries and on to the railway.

All of this will help us increase revenues, but we have to remain committed to driving down costs to truly achieve a sustainable railway.

How do we get there?
The good news is, we’re not doing this from a standing start. Since 2007, the Scottish Government has invested £8 billion in enhancing the railway.

Our decarbonisation plan is aligned with rolling stock expiry dates and the renewal of our fleets. We are clear that we can’t afford not to electrify as we can’t replace diesel trains with more diesel trains.

That’s one of the many reasons that between 2014 and 2019, we electrified 325km of Scotland’s central railway network and introduced a £375m fleet of modern electric trains.

But it’s not simply a case of electrifying the entire railway – we’re also looking at which railway corridors could be best served by alternative traction. We are working with Transport Scotland and ScotRail to evaluate the appropriateness of hydrogen and battery powered trains as interim or permanent options for our rural lines.

We’re making our network more robust and we now have a climate scientist – a UK first for Network Rail – who’s helping us adapt and prepare for the impact of climate change now and in the future. Our Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Plan sets out the actions that we are already taking and have planned for the remainder of this control period. And we’re looking further ahead, doing the groundwork for plans that will take into account a range of different climate change projections.
In addition, we’re increasing connectivity to encourage greater use of rail, we’ve opened new train stations to connect the country, most recently at Reston in East Lothian, and we now have 362 stations serving communities throughout Scotland. Work is ongoing to reinstate the Levenmouth line and we’re building new stations at Inverness Airport and East Linton.

But we’re not resting on our laurels, we know timetables will need to be adapted to support rolling stock changes and to make rail a more attractive choice, as travel habits aren’t what they were pre-Covid. We’re working to continuously improve our infrastructure and that will enable our railway to accommodate timetable updates, while becoming more reliable and cost effective.

We can’t do it alone though.
And that’s why we’re continually listening, learning and acting to remove the obstacles that prevent people from using the railway. And it’s why we’re talking to our contractors and supply chain partners and asking them not to simply be passive, but to tell us what environment we need to create to take chunks out of the capital cost of upkeeping and improving the railway.

Traction decarbonisation – a phased approach
Currently 31% of Scotland’s Railway’s carbon footprint comes from how we power trains.
In simple terms, we need to change the type of trains that we run, and we need to transport more people and goods by rail to achieve the decarbonisation targets set for the wider transport industry.
Each year, rail hauls more than four million tonnes of goods in Scotland – equal to 170,000 lorry journeys – and we have ambitious plans to grow our freight output in the years ahead. The environmental benefits are incredibly significant because one freight train emits just a quarter of the carbon dioxide of the equivalent road journey.

On the passenger side, phase one of our decarbonisation strategy is the introduction of electric and battery electric for trains on the Fife, Borders, and East Kilbride and Barrhead routes. The second phase will be to decarbonise the Aberdeen to Central Belt routes connecting to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. This includes significant timetable and freight gauge enhancements which will support modal shift on this corridor.

Electrification will enable the removal of diesel trains and we will then have further phases to replace these old trains, for example, with hydrogen trains from the rural routes, with options to decarbonise the Highland Mainline, as well as lines in Glasgow and the southwest.

In March this year, we made a combined Scotland’s Railway investment submission for phase one of the decarbonisation programme. Through this, we received support to commence procurement of a new fleet of electric and battery electric trains as well as to continue to design and develop our proposals to partially electrify the Fife and Borders routes. We are currently preparing for the final investment submission for these projects that will allow us to move into construction.

Decarbonising isn’t all about what we do on the track
At the moment 34% of our carbon footprint comes from everything we build, including the materials we use, energy use at our worksites and the technology we use. A further 29% comes from the things we buy, so our supply chain also has a big part to play in helping us achieve our decarbonisation goals. Perhaps surprisingly, only 3% comes from our buildings, equipment, cars and vans, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t tackle our own impact on the environment.

So, while electrification has a big part to play in our decarbonisation efforts, clearly, it’s only part of the story.

The energy we use in our non-traction operations is for lighting and heating in our offices as well as operating infrastructure such as signalling and level crossings, while also operating our road fleet vehicles and the generators that support our on-site works. The challenge we face is continuing to operate our vast rail network while reducing our energy consumption and moving towards net zero.
To make that happen we’re rolling out energy efficiency measures across our estates. That includes heating and cooling our buildings much more efficiently, installing LED lighting and working to transition our road fleet and plant machinery to emissions-free alternatives. We’re also working to introduce renewable energy technology wherever it’s feasible. And finally, in those areas that we don’t yet have the technology to reduce residual emissions, we will look to use carbon offsetting initiatives and will target partners who are offsetting emissions in Scotland, other than elsewhere in the world.

Reducing waste and harvesting a more biodiverse environment
Let’s be clear, decarbonisation doesn’t automatically mean sustainability.
Decarbonisation, increasing revenues and lowering costs are just some of the things we’re working towards to become a more sustainable railway. To truly achieve sustainability in the long term, however, we know we have to think more about the world around us.

The day-to-day operations of the railway create a large amount of waste but we’re making substantial efforts to improve recycling rates and minimise landfill waste.

We’re thinking more about the lifecycle of the materials and assets that we use, from how they’re sourced to how they can be used again, instead of simply utilising and discarding them.
We’re actively looking at ways to give demolition waste such as stone and metals a new lifecycle, which will in turn reduce the demand for raw materials and then lessen the associated environmental impact of transport and processing.

Scotland’s Railway is more mindful than ever of our impact on the world and our goal is to achieve no net loss of biodiversity by 2024, and to achieve a net gain by 2035.

Our network crosses some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country and we own over 7340 hectares of lineside estate. Invariably these areas are home to a huge variety of flora, fauna and wildlife. What may be more surprising to some is that, even in urban areas, there are thousands of habitats at risk from human activity.

To combat that, we’re creating ways of working that mean if we do have to disturb habitats, we do that sensitively and we provide new habitats to offset what we’ve damaged. We can talk about decarbonisation as much as we want but if we don’t consider the ecosystems through which the railway runs, then we’ll only damage our efforts to be a better, greener railway.

Now is the time to act
You may be wondering how we afford to deliver this programme given the broad economic context of the railway and the wider world.

In terms of the potential impact of climate change, we simply can’t afford not to deliver.
That’s not exclusive to the railway or to transport – everyone must play their part at home, work and everywhere in between.

From a railway perspective, we know we must be able to fund the capital and operational investment required to meet our targets and operate the railway into the future. Each project is supported by a business case, which considers all the costs and benefits as well as the broader societal benefits of Scotland and links back into those strategies and targets.

Investment will only be made if we can demonstrate it’s the right thing to do. In this context, it’s of course critical that we can also demonstrate that as well as meeting the environmental targets, the proposed investment will enable us to reduce the cost of running the railway to the taxpayer.

That means driving efficiency into our capital costs, driving increased revenue through the product we offer and also reducing the cost of the services we provide. Large strides have been made in achieving significant efficiencies and an ‘all in’ electrification rate of less than two million pounds per single track kilometre has been achieved through a huge range of innovations.

We’ve significantly reduced the number of structural interventions required and we’ve aligned our decarbonisation programme to the expiry date of our rolling stock life.

Through our decarbonisation programme, we’re creating an even greener, cleaner and more inclusive railway for Scotland. We’re now at a really exciting stage whereby procurement of new trains has begun, and work has started on site in several locations to provide the infrastructure to support their introduction.

We continue to collaborate with all of our partners and as we move forward, we’re really keen to work with our wider supply chain, such as manufacturing and construction companies, to help them set their own targets and explore how we can use our assets, such as land, to support the generation of renewable energy and improve biodiversity.

We know that external suppliers and other specialists outside of the rail industry can drive innovation in this, and many other, initiatives, so we are actively seeking their input.

We have a unique opportunity to create a faster, more reliable, more financially and economically sustainable railway for everyone. Our focus is on achieving that.

Alan Ross
Alan is an active member of The PWI’s Climate Change Adaptation and Decarbonisation Comittee