Why rail electrification is so slow in Britain

Arrivals atEURIA New Street station in Birmingham are greeted by a striking 24-metre-high atrium, a shopping complex and the fumes of diesel trains. The smell is an unpleasant reminder that just 38% of Britain’s railway network is electrified, compared with 60% on average in the .That is nowhere near enough for the country’s . The Railway Industry Association (), a trade body, warned in 2021 that 448km of track must be electrified each year if all trains are to be green by 2050. That feat has been achieved only once since 1990.