Target to decarbonise all passenger trains pushed back by decade

The Scottish Government has pushed back its target date for the decarbonisation of all passenger trains by a decade.

Originally planned for 2035, ministers now say the complete removal of diesel passenger trains will need to take place by 2045 due to “constrained budgets and logistical requirements”.

The 2035 date was part of the Government’s greenhouse gas emissions projections published earlier this year.

The revised timeline was set out by transport secretary Fiona Hyslop in a written answer at Holyrood.

She informed MSPs that procurement of a new fleet of trains to replace ScotRail’s 25-strong high-speed trains (HST) is under way.

Unions have called for the ageing carriages to be removed from service following the Stonehaven rail crash in 2020.

Hyslop said: “ScotRail will run the procurement in a fair and transparent manner, enabling Scottish suppliers to provide their services to potential bidders.

“In the meantime, the HSTs remain safe to run until a replacement fleet is ready; they are needed for the capacity required by ScotRail to deliver an appropriate service level.”

Hyslop said the Government’s decarbonisation plan for the railways was always “dynamic” and has now had to be revised.

The transport secretary continued: “The original target date of 2035 for complete removal of diesel passenger trains from the Scottish network can no longer be met, due to constrained budgets and logistical requirements impacting adversely on the delivery programme.

“The physical delivery of electrification works needs to be staged to reduce the impact on passengers as much as is practicable.

“Undertaking too much disruptive engineering work across the network at the same time would have significant farebox revenue impacts and would significantly diminish the attractiveness of rail travel for the public.

“The revised (decarbonisation plan) will demonstrate phased full decarbonisation by 2045.

“The refreshed plan is now expected to be published in spring 2025.”