The End Of Diesel Traction In The UK?

[whole diary]

[Bob_Blakey]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/02/12/minister-reveals-plan-shunt-every-diesel-train-tracks-2040/

And I thought things couldn't get any more ludicrous with Mr. Grayling in charge...

[ChrisB]

He'll be pushing up the daisies most likely by then....

[mjones]

If only there was a way to replace diesel trains using technology that already exists...

[martyjon]

I heard the report on dear old Auntie Beeb. The words used were, "phase out diesel only trains ..." which I interpreted as diesel as the only means of propulsion, diesel by-modes ok, diesel battery ok petrol only ok, petrol by-modes ok, petrol battery ok, etc, and so it seems Mr Hammond will have to give the Treasurys Cheque Book an airing and write an open cheque, " Pay Railway Investment". Strikes me there is a land beyond that known as "Cloud Cuckoo, Cuckoo"

[grahame]

Jo Johnson will call on rail companies to follow the automotive industry by switching to alternative fuels and battery technology.

However, MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) and trade bodies last night warned that the costs of the overhaul must be shouldered by customers through higher ticket prices.

This is the brother of the chap who I recall promising £350 million for the NHS, right??   But it's wise to remember that we need to work with him and his ministerial colleagues, and that the promises of the older brother don't transfer to the younger brother.

There is sense in diesel electric trains being able to collect their electricity from overhead cables or line side extra rails where available, of course ... and to have a battery charging point using tidal energy at Pilning, where a crane can lift a discharged set of batteries off and load on a fresh set of charged ones on every diesel electric train that call at the station there on its way through to Wales.

[Red Squirrel]

... and to have a battery charging point using tidal energy at Pilning, where a crane can lift a discharged set of batteries off and load on a fresh set of charged ones on every diesel electric train that call at the station there on its way through to Wales.

Or, using a marvellous new invention I'm hearing about called 'wires', move the electricity thus generated to a stabling point where the batteries could be recharged in situ...

[stuving]

This is the brother of the chap who I recall promising £350 million for the NHS, right??   But it's wise to remember that we need to work with him and his ministerial colleagues, and that the promises of the older brother don't transfer to the younger brother.

Indeed they don't There's no sign that Jo has developed the same overwhelming urge to poke his father in the eye with a sharp anti-Eurpean stick on every possible occasion that Boris displays.

We ought to wait for the full text to be released; as a major speech by a minister it should be. It may say something a bit different.

For the record, he was speaking (scheduled at 9:45-10:15) at the opening plenary session of the "Knowledge Quarter Conference 2018: The Future of Knowledge". That subject is expanded as "the future of Knowledge in an age of untruth".

If you want to know even more about that subject, it goes on: "Knowledge may be the last imperishable currency, but it’s a currency under threat of devaluation. From expertise to echo-chambers and from fact to falsehood ‘The Future of Knowledge’ will mine the uncertainty that underpins our anxious age, exploring the challenges that face the knowledge economy in the early twenty-first Century."

That usage if "mine" is a puzzle - I've given that sentence a severe kicking, and it refuses to reveal any useful meaning. Perhaps it just implies that the organisers (Eventbrite) are commercially exploiting the current unease created by not knowing what counts as knowledge any more.

[JayMac]

"Knowledge may be the last imperishable currency, but it’s a currency under threat of devaluation. From expertise to echo-chambers and from fact to falsehood ‘The Future of Knowledge’ will mine the uncertainty that underpins our anxious age, exploring the challenges that face the knowledge economy in the early twenty-first Century."

Ye gods. Who wrote that? Malcolm Tucker or Sir Humphrey?

[eightf48544]

I ran it through https://readable.io/text/. it scored pretty high for unreadability.

[stuving]

"Knowledge may be the last imperishable currency, but it’s a currency under threat of devaluation. From expertise to echo-chambers and from fact to falsehood ‘The Future of Knowledge’ will mine the uncertainty that underpins our anxious age, exploring the challenges that face the knowledge economy in the early twenty-first Century."

Ye gods. Who wrote that? Malcolm Tucker or Sir Humphrey?

In the absence of a list of the organising committee, the obvious name to name is Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library and Chair, Knowledge Quarter'. As head of this ... whatever it is, he had responsibility for approving that kind of stuff, though the conference organiser herself may have written it.

[patch38]

Ye gods. Who wrote that? Malcolm Tucker or Sir Humphrey?

Way too few expletives for Malcolm Tucker... 

[stuving]

The text of Jo Johnson's speech has now been published by dfT. Here's the most relevant bit:

And that’s why I am today announcing a new ambition.

I would like to see us take all diesel-only trains off the track by 2040.

If that seems like an ambitious goal - it should be and I make no apology for that.

After all, we’re committed to ending sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.

If we can achieve that, then why can’t the railway aspire to a similar objective?

Rail may be less carbon intensive than road transport.

That’s why modal shift’s so important.

Getting freight and passenger vehicles off the roads onto greener forms of transport.

But that does not absolve the rail industry from cleaning up its own act.

You may have seen stories recently about transport becoming the most polluting sector of our economy.

And the fact that rail emissions have actually increased in absolute terms.

Up 33% since 1990.

This cannot go on.

Now – we are making progress on modernising rolling stock.

For example, the much derided Pacers are going.

Along with other long-standing members of the fleet like Intercity 125s….

Old diesels being replaced by much cleaner trains featuring low carbon and NOx technology.

But we need to go further…

By decarbonising rail, we’ll reduce pollutants and improve air quality, particularly in our semi-enclosed stations.

So it is rather more measured than it was reported to be, and later he does say that step one is to ask the industry to draw up a plan - which should slow things down a bit. (Though his actual words were to "provide a vision", sadly.) That will presumably include a more concrete dated proposal for the retirement of all the older (pre-NRMM IIIB) diesel trains as a first step.

[CyclingSid]

Maybe in his youth Mr Johnson had a train with a key coming out of it, and thinks it can be scaled up!

[grahame]

...  ask the industry to draw up a plan ...

Lot of that about at the moment.  Planning buys you more positive column inches per pound than actually doing!

[Bmblbzzz]

The end of internal combustion cars (on new sale) announced for the same date was a non-announcement as technological development means only niche cars (Ferraris, for instance) will have any use for petrol or diesel engines by then. It happens regardless of ministerial announcements. With trains, the technology is also here, but depends on government investment (or a radical rethink of rail privatisation).