Low emissions - Rail Technical Strategy

Low emissions

Modal shift from road and air travel to rail, combined with actions to lower rail emissions, can make a substantial contribution to tackling climate change and air pollution. Rail emissions will be reduced by new – full and partial – efficient electrification, zero and low carbon vehicles, and a whole-system, whole-life approach to managing carbon.

Critically, the new goal of Intelligent Energy Management of traction power has an important role to play in helping getting the right amount of power to the right places, at the right time.

"The Low Emissions updated routemap offers greater depth of thinking on where and how technical development can unlock the changes required. Let’s continue to use it to make progress happen." READ MORE

Malcolm Brown, CEO, Angel Trains and Chair of the Sustainable Rail Executive

VIEW THE ROUTEMAP

The functional priority routemaps highlight the steps needed in the next few years to ensure that new technical solutions can underpin progress towards the key goals. You can explore the latest version of the routemap below and check back here to read about progress against the stepping stones over the next few years.

Select the routemap or progress update, then hover over the image to zoom in / out.

Download the Routemap

Routemap

An interactive version is available to view on desktop

Case studies

Case studies help the railway to celebrate and publicise its achievements and learn lessons in introducing new solutions. Explore the stories below and share yours at rts@rssb.co.uk.

HVO fuels result in significant carbon emissions reductions in Colas Rail UK trials Read more

Stadler delivers Class 93 Tri-mode Locomotives for Rail Operations Group Read more

Climate Data More Accessible to Rail Companies Through New Met Office Portal Read more

Freightliner accelerates progress towards Net Zero with low emission fuel Read more

Scottish hydrogen train: on track to deliver climate targets Read more

Alternative traction systems for passenger trains – Hybrid and Hydro FLEX Read more

Optimal power control for bi-mode trains Read more

Cardiff Intersection Bridge Read more

A risk based approach to air quality Read more

Traction power retro-fits to achieve zero-carbon Read more

Who is doing what?

Many research and innovation activities support progress towards the goals set out for this priority. Visibility of these is essential to enable greater collaboration and increase the likelihood of success. This is why the RTS puts a spotlight on a selection of these activities, enables you to download the full list of activities of which we are aware, and invites you to add to this picture by sharing your own work.

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) competition

£20 million was made available for projects to develop novel CCUS technology and processes that reduce the cost of deployment.

Rail Carbon Accounting Framework (RCAF)

RSSB is aligning carbon data and accounting across the industry and its supply chain to save time and money, improve monitoring and support research and strategic decisions in the move toward net zero.

MultHyFuel

MultHyFuel is a three-year consortium-led project focussed on overcoming technical and administrative barriers to the deployment of multifuel hydrogen refuelling stations.

A compact hydrogen powered range extender

Led by Durham University, a project investigating the capability of version 4 piston-free range extender to switch from liquid (gasoline) to gaseous (hydrogen) fuel without hardware changes.

Digital Displacement for Non-Passenger Rail

Led by Artemis Intelligent Power, an investigation into the technical and commercial feasibility of using Digital Displacement technology to reduce carbon emissions in the rail freight sector.

Overhead Line Equipment Foundation Design

Collaboration with the University of Southampton and In Situ has provided the evidence base for a more economical foundation design and cheaper electrification.

HydroFLEX – Hydrogen Powered Train

A collaboration between Porterbrook and the University of Birmingham to trial of the first hydrogen-powered train in the UK, developed by fitting a hydrogen pack to an existing Class 319 train set.

Green Valley Lines – Renewable Energy

Led by Riding Sunbeams, a study into the potential to help optimise traction energy use on AC passenger networks through integrating storage technologies and directly supplied renewable electricity.

Battery trains route to enter into service

RSSB project T1195 aims to address the challenge of how to replace and/or modify the existing diesel fleet of freight locomotives with less carbon intensive solutions while reducing other pollutants.

Download the full list

Share what you are working on

Help keep the industry up to date with progress by sharing your research and innovation activities that are relevant to this priority.

Functional Priorities