For decades, rail transport has been a vital contributor to movement in cities—carrying people to and from work and to sporting and cultural events. Now, the railways could be about to play a new role — one with environmental and social benefits that include renewable energy generation and local community empowerment.

“Everyone thinks of railways as a way of moving people from A to B, and that is our core function,” says Jason Brooker, head of environment at Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which manages greater London’s Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern services. “But there's so much more we can do.”

Power to the community

In 2021, GTR formed a partnership with Energy Garden, a London-based non-profit that works with local communities to invest in renewable energy generation and improve air quality and biodiversity.

“Energy Garden installed solar panels on the roof of our depot in Streatham Hill in south London,” explains Brooker. “We have a power purchase agreement in place whereby we buy 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the energy that's generated and the rest of it is exported to Patagonia, the clothing brand. All of the profit then goes back into the local community through social outreach schemes.”

The scheme was then followed by a collaboration with Network Rail at nearby Denmark Hill, and between them the two installations generated 236,000 kWh of renewable energy and avoided the release of 46 tonnes of CO₂ in 2022.

To overcome challenges caused by ageing infrastructure and red tape, in Denmark Hill, for instance, where the roof of the depot did not have the structural capacity to bear heavy solar panels, Network Rail fitted a new type of lightweight, photovoltaic sticky film to power the new platform canopies.

As part of GTR’s decarbonisation strategy, which aims for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it has announced plans to expand the Energy Garden partnership to three further engineering depots in Bedford, Three Bridges in West Sussex and South London’s Selhurst.

In total the three depots are expected to produce more than 2GWh of electricity and save more than 9,000 tonnes of CO₂.

“All of our 250 stations, depots and offices across our network are powered by electricity from renewable sources,” says Brooker. “And increasing our on-site renewables is very much part of our net zero strategy.”

Bringing more non-passengers into railway stations to use amenities can also have benefits for local communities, such as improved air quality from fewer engines idling in car parks. “Historically, railways have always been at the centre of towns and local communities, and there's no reason why that shouldn't still be the case.”

New contracts unleash creative ideas

National Rail Contracts have recently replaced the UK’s franchising model, and part of GTR’s contract working with public transport authority National Rail is to look for opportunities for renewable energy schemes.

One of the advantages of the new rail contract is its length — which could be up to six years before renewal — which provides better project continuity. And there is a high level of buy-in for sustainability topics “from top executives down to every level of the business,” according to Brooker, which is increasing the scope of what they can do.

“There’s been a real increase in awareness of what we do in the environmental space,” he says. “I’ve been looking into all sorts of things from wind turbines to kinetic floors that generate energy when people walk over them. The sky’s the limit for us in a lot of ways — it’s just about finding the things that are going to work.”

The industry is getting on board

Other train operators are also getting involved. Industry working groups meet regularly to share best practices and the initiatives companies have been working on, and to discuss strategies around climate change adaptation and the decarbonisation of transport.

“We are not going to solve the climate crisis and the ecological crisis individually as one company, and that's also why we want to see where there are opportunities outside of rail — Energy Garden being a great example of this,” says Brooker. “We don't want to work in our own silo within GTR, but we also don't want to work in our own silo within the industry.”

Brooker says that GTR’s mission goes beyond decarbonisation. “We’re in a climate crisis, but we're also in an ecological crisis,” he says. “So we’re working with the London Wildlife Trust Consultancies to carry out biodiversity assessments across our network.

“When you look at a railway station, you don't automatically assume it's a thriving hub of ecology. But people would be amazed at what can be done.”