A report called Catalysing a green recovery: Creating jobs by building Britain’s net zero railway has been published this month and is available to read here. It uses analysis conducted by NSAR along with Oxera economists and rolling stock consultants Ipex. It concludes that building Britain’s net zero railway could support almost 6,000 long term jobs in the sector nationally between 2024 and 2050 while cutting 33 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over that period.
The document explains that electrifying the remaining parts of the network and developing hydrogen and battery technologies as alternatives would not only support more jobs in the rail supply chain but help drive further investment and job creation in these emerging markets.
As the single largest consumer of electricity in the country, the rail network will require large amounts of renewable power, as well as hydrogen and battery storage. A commitment by government to fund the decarbonisation of the rail network would help drive investment and create more jobs in existing renewables like wind and solar farms.
The report comes at a time when the rail industry, through its ‘We Mean Green’ campaign, is encouraging people and businesses to choose greener trains over congested roads in the fight against climate change.