THE European railway industry is embracing the challenge to develop alternatives to diesel traction with gusto as the European Union pushes for a major reduction in pollution and carbon emissions as part of its policy to help prevent catastrophic climate change. Britain has already set the bar high by announcing that it wants to eliminate diesel traction by 2040. 

Rail has long enjoyed an environmental advantage over other modes, and in particular air and water transport, in that an electrified railway can run on any fuel. This means rail can benefit immediately from the switch away from electricity produced by burning fossil fuels to renewable sources such as hydro, wind or wave power. Indeed, Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail boasts that all the electricity used to power trains in the Netherlands comes from green, renewal energy.

In an ideal world, railways would push to electrify as much of their networks as possible. After all, electric traction offers many benefits over diesel. Electric trains are generally cheaper to buy, operate and maintain than their diesel counterparts. They have superior rates of acceleration, which translate into journey time reductions thereby helping to increase the appeal of rail travel. With regenerative braking, energy is fed back into the grid, which reduces power consumption.