£1bn plan to electrify rail line

By Tom Symonds BBC transport correspondent

Electric trains are cheaper and require less maintenance

A £1bn plan to electrify the main rail route between London and Swansea is to be announced by the government.

A second line between Liverpool and Manchester will also be converted from diesel to electric.

Ministers say electric trains are lighter and more energy efficient, cutting the running cost and environmental impact of train services.

The work will take eight years. Overhead power lines will be installed between London, Swansea, Bristol, Bath and Oxford.

Fare rise dismissed

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis told the BBC not backing an electrification programme now would have meant ordering new diesel trains with a lifespan of 30 years, making it impossible to electrify the Great Western Line for a generation.

Instead the rail industry can invest in the electric version of the new intercity train known as the Super Express, unveiled last year.

The government and rail industry agree that electrification will bring major benefits.

EUROPE'S ELECTRIC RAIL COVER Switzerland: 100% Sweden: 77% Netherlands: 73% Italy: 69% Germany: 56% Spain: 56% UK: 40% Source: UIC

Electric trains do not carry their own fuel - around six tonnes of weight for a fully fuelled intercity train. They also have lighter engines.

This makes them more than 35% cheaper to operate than diesel trains, according to the Department for Transport.

The electric engines also require less maintenance, and the trains are around 20% cheaper to buy.

There are also major environmental benefits. The production of electricity for trains creates up to 35% less carbon than burning the equivalent amount of diesel.

First Great Western's existing diesels, dating back to the mid-70s, achieve little more than eight miles to the gallon.

Commuter lines

Network Rail will carry out the work and has assured the government that lessons in the installation of overhead power lines have been learnt following a fiasco last year when work on the West Coast Main Line over-ran.

The company says it is buying specialist electrification trains capable of automating the installation job.

Ministers dismiss suggestions that the investment will lead to an increase in fares - a concern raised by the Campaign for Better Transport.

They say the electrification will lead to cost savings in the running of trains - and the £1bn Great Western investment, funded through Network Rail borrowing, will be repaid over 40 years.

Britain went through a period of electrification between the 50s and 80s in which two other main lines, East and West, were converted.

Many commuter lines into London from the home counties are also electrified - using a third rail system rather than overhead cables.

But Britain still has proportionally less electric railway than most European countries. In the league table, it is below Macedonia.

The latest announcement means electric trains come to Wales for the first time - not a single mile of the principality's railways is electrified.

Between Manchester and Liverpool a smaller project to electrify the line via Newton-le-Willows has also been given the green light.

This will have the added benefit of allowing Transpennine trains between Manchester airport and Glasgow to run on electric power. The project fills in an un-electrified gap in the network.

But the government has not committed to electrify another major diesel route, the Midland Main Line between London and Sheffield. It is still considering the proposal.