Does the journalist know anything about railways?
"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/12/diesel-steam-trains-rail-electricity"
"https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/12/diesel-steam-trains-rail-electricity"
Simon Jenkins said:New ministers always go a little mad in the early days of the job. The new railways boss, Jo Johnson, will make a speech proposing to “phase out” all British diesel engines by 2040. He calls it an “aspiration”.
But diesel accounts for a third of all Britain’s trains. The only alternative form of traction is electricity, and Johnson’s ministerial predecessor postponed or abandoned Network Rail’s electrification plan – including the Welsh and Midlands mainlines. British railway traction is in the dark ages. What does Johnson have in mind, horses?
There are murmurs that trains might be hauled by hydrogen or batteries (which would need to be the size of a train). As with cars, that is pie in the sky. But is Johnson about to cause a sensation, and revive the age of steam....?
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