AS Chiltern Railways prepares to consider options for replacing its existing diesel fleet with more environmentally-friendly trains, a report outlining its plans for the future says decarbonisation “cannot afford to wait for track electrification”.
In his introduction to the ‘Right Route 2030 Vision’, managing director Richard Allen says that after obtaining proposals and costs from manufacturers, the company will make its business case to the Government.
As an immediate measure, Class 68 locomotives (which the company subleases from Direct Rail Services to work some of its Chiltern Main Line services using Mk. 3 coaching stock) will be fuelled with Hydro-treated Vegetable Oil (HVO), a direct substitute for conventional diesel. No. 68014 was used at an event at London’s Marylebone station on
