Pollution on some new UK trains ‘13 times one of London’s busiest roads’

The amount of diesel pollution on some new trains is 13 times above on one among central London’s busiest roads, researchers found.

Passengers travelling onboard an excellent Western Railway carriage running from London to Bristol, procured by the govt as a part of a £5.7bn scheme, were subject to large spikes in dioxide (NO2) pollution when it switched to diesel from electric.

NO2 levels on the two-year-old bi-mode Hitachi trains peaked at quite 13 times the typical recorded on the traffic-clogged Marylebone Road in central London, consistent with a study by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).

The Department for Transport (DfT) said ministers had commissioned more research after the “concerning findings”, also as an instantaneous review of air quality standards and regulations for trains.

The Hitachi-built bi-modes were a part of a £5.7bn government procurement of trains to run on the good Western mainline and East Coast , with a controversial design that twinned diesel and electrical power . The trains were also recently pulled out of service after cracks were discovered within the carriages.

GWR trains run on electricity from London until Cardiff, but services farther west and south-west run on diesel. Planned electrification of a part of the road into south Wales, also because the branch from Chippenham to Bath and Bristol Temple Meads, was scrapped by the then transport secretary Chris Grayling in 2017 after huge budget overruns.

Pollution increases significantly when trains are in tunnels or idling in stations, the RSSB said. Passengers on trains pulled by diesel locomotives are more exposed to fumes when sitting in rear instead of front carriages, the researchers found, possibly thanks to the how the exhaust is drawn into the train’s windows or air con system.
The RSSB examined six sorts of diesel train, and located high levels of particulate pollution on older diesel trains operated by Avanti West Coast , the Super Voyager class 221 models built by Alstom.

However, the RSSB concluded: “Newer train types don’t necessarily have better onboard air quality compared to older trains.” The worst NO2 pollution was found on the GWR bi-mode trains, which were just two years old.

The DfT said that the RSSB report had independently concluded that the standard of air on services remained within legal workplace limits. It said cross-industry research was already under thanks to understand the problems and identify solutions, while it had commissioned further studies to live air quality on another eight sorts of train utilized in Britain.

Rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “The safety of staff and passengers is our absolute priority. While these findings are within limits, I don’t believe people should need to accept anything but the very best levels of air quality.

“I have asked the industry to right away conduct further research and explore all engineering modifications and options to rapidly improve air quality on trains and in stations.

He added: “If required, we’ll not hesitate to strengthen legislation to make sure the very best standards of air quality are met and maintained.”

A spokesperson for industry body the Rail Delivery Group said: “Rail is one among the greenest sorts of transport … We welcome the government’s action to enhance air quality onboard trains, but investment by government is additionally needed to affect more of the railway and eliminate more polluting trains altogether.”

GWR said it had been working with the manufacturers to assist develop potential solutions. A spokesperson said: “In the future , this is often why the government’s ambition to affect the network and reduce the amount of diesel-operated trains is so important.”

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said most of its fleet was fully electric, and it might be replacing the diesel Voyager trains with electric and bi-mode trains in coming years.

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