Was shocked to see this: https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/2021/10/13/freightliner-to-withdraw-entire-electric-fleet Whither a greener transport system….
Well... after Woodhead, PRR, Great Northern... not entirely surprised. Railways were always finicky at least about the last mile. I wonder what caused the price increase. The Russian gas roulette? (If so, was it really green?) My dad always says, what the heck is going to happen if electric cars become actually popular? (It's not like you can charge them at home. You aren't home, certainly not at all in the winter. Of course, you can build a battery farm, too.) Plus electric heating, air conditioning, cooking, smart homes, and as far as the railways go, HST to 8xx, 1xx to 3/4xx (Edinburgh-Glasgow, GWR). The good thing is, at least diesel locos are fairly efficient, all things considered, and there are plenty of hybrid options. Of course the UK loading gauge is too small to accomodate fancy systems, unless the engines and generators got much smaller since the 66.
Well if you will delegate your freighting to private, profit-driven corporations, they're going to make exclusively profit-driven decisions I guess. Time to rethink the whole process as a public good.
This article is from October, the electric locomotives were only withdrawn South of Crewe temporarily and the matter has been resolved. The Freightliner electrics are running as normal. Hopefully they will return some of the 86s to service this year though.
I agree, it's a complex topic. Increasing taxes on diesel production or sales to offset the price difference and indicate environmental cost. Ignore resulting demonstrations by truckers and van owners. Also those few living in natural areas trying to preserve their environment, such as: Deploy solar and wind farms in place of fields and forests, build dams on every stream and river. ... The root cause is having way too many humans and their love to travel, transport and convenience way too much. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Milestones_by_the_billions Gone are the days of buying milk from your neighbor in your dedicated glass bottles. Holidays at the nearby lake. In my country the accepted inside temperature for winter has reached +25°C. It's a lot of energy and expected from offices and malls. Rail is really just one small player.
Go nuclear - you know it makes sense. Small modular reactors Plant more trees on green field sites (and flood plains - the clue is in the name) rather than expensive (of course high profit!) housing estates. Forests can help alleviate a bit of flooding Re-forestation might not help much in what's left of my lifetime, but in the decades to come when the trees begin to mature, it will.
I remember those Thunderbirds stories from when I was younger - everything was supposed to be nuclear powered now!
