I know railways politics has already been discussed in a thread on here but I was just wondering whether anyone has any idea what the Green Party's attitude to things such as Heritage Railways and coal-burning traction of any kind might be?
My train of thought is this: The Greens are obviously interested in protecting the environment, and one of their stated aims is to work towards a carbon-neutral economy.
Naturally, heritage railways are not particularly 'green', bearing in mind that they operate coal-burning steam engines, higher-emissions heritage diesel locomotives, and host galas/rallys where steam-powered lorries, traction engines and steam rollers come together.
So is there any risk that the Greens, in the highly unlikely event that they get into power, might try and restrict heritage railways or mainline steam in any way as part of their war on carbon emissions?
I personally think it would be foolish considering the contribution of the heritage industry to local and national economies, but you never know.
Interested to hear any thoughts.
Regards
n.b. I know the Greens aren't the only ones interested in the environment but as far as I can tell they're the only ones who'd go so far as to suggest that they want a carbon-neutral economy by 2020 or 2030 or whenever.
My train of thought is this: The Greens are obviously interested in protecting the environment, and one of their stated aims is to work towards a carbon-neutral economy.
Naturally, heritage railways are not particularly 'green', bearing in mind that they operate coal-burning steam engines, higher-emissions heritage diesel locomotives, and host galas/rallys where steam-powered lorries, traction engines and steam rollers come together.
So is there any risk that the Greens, in the highly unlikely event that they get into power, might try and restrict heritage railways or mainline steam in any way as part of their war on carbon emissions?
I personally think it would be foolish considering the contribution of the heritage industry to local and national economies, but you never know.
Interested to hear any thoughts.
Regards
n.b. I know the Greens aren't the only ones interested in the environment but as far as I can tell they're the only ones who'd go so far as to suggest that they want a carbon-neutral economy by 2020 or 2030 or whenever.