Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told MPs that bi-mode technology is a poor solution to helping the UK meet decarbonisation targets in the long term.
In an apparent reversal of government policy in recent years, he seemed to favour further electrification instead, adding: “Nothing frustrates me more, if truth be told, than hearing that there is a new bi-mode train going into service somewhere, and when you ask what the two modes are it is not (as you hoped) electricity and hydrogen, but electricity and diesel.
“We have to end that and find other options… or do the electrification. I am hugely concerned about the idea that we could still have new, partially diesel-run trains coming into service up to 2040. I am, of course, very interested in the earlier extinction of diesel trains.”
We've read it in: Passenger Transport, November 1 2019, p5
