Be creative, daring and experimental…

This week’s blog is written by Arthur Emyr, Head of Business Development and Engagement at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, who outlines the positive role GCRE can play in the decarbonisation of rail and the transition to Net Zero.

The most critical threat that we all face is the climate crisis.

It unites everyone in the breadth and the scale of its danger and it’s not a problem that can be put off or delayed. It’s an existential threat to our lives and our planet and it requires urgent action from all of us, now. Collectively and individually.

Governments right across the world have recognised the threat and have committed to take the necessary steps to ensure that by 2050 greenhouse gas emissions are net zero. That means radically changing the way we act and developing new ways of thinking about the way we live and conduct our lives.

But turning policy aspirations into practical, tangible action is always the most challenging aspect of any major shift in attitudes or behaviours. To limit global warming to 1.5°C, in line with the historic Paris agreement, greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 and decline 43% by 2030. That’s a huge challenge.

Overcoming the ‘implementation gap’ and making sure that the things we have committed to on paper translate into real change in the way we live and act in the world is going to be one of the most important determining factors in tackling the crisis we face.

As a sector, rail has a critically important part to play in that work. Transport is the largest emitting sector in the UK, responsible for just over a quarter of UK emissions in 2021 and so there is a nationally – and internationally – important job of work to be done to ensure public and private transport is making its contribution to the net zero challenge. And uniquely outside the energy sector and grid, the railway has its own energy distribution network which opens up enormous opportunities not just for rail transportation but for the arteries and communities served by the railways.

The UK Government has said that that it will allow no new petrol and diesel cars to be sold from 2030 and that by 2028 it wants 52% of car sales to be electric. That’s an important step, but its public transport, in particular, that we need to have an important focus on in the coming years.

We need to ensure that public transport is more joined up, reliable and effective than it is now in order that modal shift can be a viable and attractive alternative for more people of all ages. We also need to make sure that the ideas, the traction and the operation of those integrated public transport networks are themselves sustainable – and affordable.

That requires those of us working in rail to be at our most creative; daring and experimental in the development of new technologies and value for money solutions that can power the net zero rail network of tomorrow. Both increasing the reliability and performance of the network so people can make positive travel choices for the planet, at the same time as developing innovative solutions for how that system is powered.

It’s a huge question – one that involves new thinking in terms of environmental policy; economic development; industrial policy; land use planning and any others. But perhaps the most powerful way to approach the subject is for everyone to ask the simple question – what can I do to make a difference?

At the Global Centre of Rail Excellence one of the most important things we can do is help create the space and the facilities for the development of the innovations that will be the backbone of that net zero transport system.  And that’s exactly the thought in our mind as we develop our new £400m innovation facility in South Wales.

As a site for world class research, testing and certification of cutting edge new rail technologies our site will quickly become established as one of the most important places in Europe at which to develop, test and refine the ideas we need for a net zero transport system – and to do so in a way that is affordable and practical given the enormous pressures on public spending across Europe.

In part, this is what is already driving those clients who have committed to use the GCRE site once we are operational. Hitachi have committed to bring their innovative battery testing to our South Wales facility and Transport for Wales have signed up to benefit from the innovation potential of GCRE as they face the decarbonisation challenge in Wales. A report published this week by the Western Gateway has highlighted the significant economic opportunities that exist for Wales and the South West to develop as a world leader in hydrogen technology and for GCRE to support the development of hydrogen trains.

Of course we all need to take responsibility and make different choices in the way we live and travel. But what will make that easier and more likely to succeed is attractive alternatives. Innovation is at the heart of that and guides what we must do as a rail industry.

The UK Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Strategy highlights that very clearly, with ‘developing the UK as a hub for green transport, technology, and innovation’ set out as one of the six pillars of the plan. But the challenge is significant. Analysis of the strategy published this week by the Railway Industry Association showed that less progress was being made in terms of decarbonising the rail sector compared to other transport modes. RIA have called for an acceleration of plans for rail decarbonisation, including investment in new traction methods like hydrogen and battery and bringing together Government, rail clients and suppliers to seek ways to reduce carbon when building the railway network.

The Welsh Government’s own Innovation Strategy makes clear the important role GCRE can play as a hub for developing new green technologies and ideas. Of course, GCRE has to lead in the way it wants others to follow and is why our facility is being constructed to be the UK’s first Net Zero in operation railway. The energy needed to operate our facility will all be generated in a renewable way.

But perhaps the most lasting impact that GCRE will have is through the cascaded technology that will be developed on site. Many of the ideas, products and new ways of powering our transport systems for tomorrow will be developed, tested and refined at our facility, in-turn being built into railways, metro systems and transport networks right across the world.

So at GCRE, in the week of World Environment Day, our pledge is this. We want to play our part in building the high quality, integrated, net zero transport systems of tomorrow and to being creative, bold and experimental in the way we go about it. And if you want to be a part of that mission, get in touch and lets talk about the partnership we can build.

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