Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-05-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have carried out into levels of NO2 emissions by diesel trains in urban areas, and whether they intend to apply similar control measures for diesel trains as have been agreed for road vehicles.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide we published in December 2015 sets out a comprehensive approach to improving the UK’s air quality, reducing health impacts, and fulfilling our legal obligations. The analysis undertaken for the plan took account of the emissions from rail travel as part of the assessment of emission sources.

Whilst emissions from the rail sector are relatively low, the air quality plan set out that UK is committed to reducing them even further, along with some of the steps we are taking. For example, the Government has committed to a major rail electrification programme that will see a significant number of diesel trains progressively replaced with electric equivalents.