Five carbon-cutting rail schemes have secured a total funding of £1.75 million from the Department for Transport (DfT).

The funding was awarded under the Department's First of a Kind (FOAK) competition, which focuses on innovative schemes that can cut the carbon footprint of the UK's railways.

This round of funding will focus on two themes - decarbonising of the railway and improving the passenger experience in stations.

Each of the five successful projects will get £350,000 to allow them to be adapted for the rail network.

Some of the schemes include solar panels that directly power trains and a system that uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce steam to power engines.

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The projects will help form part of the government's drive to a cleaner, greener economy which is a key part of its modern Industrial Strategy.

It comes as rail industry leaders published the interim Rail Industry Decarbonisation Taskforce report addressing the challenge set by the DfT last year for cutting emissions and removing diesel-only trains from the network by 2040.

Simon Edmonds, Manufacturing, Materials and Mobility Director, Innovate UK said: "Travelling or moving goods by train is rightly seen as more sustainable. Yet there is more we can do to make the railway cleaner and greener by decarbonisation. This can be achieved by deploying more energy-efficient systems, using lighter rolling stock and looking at technologies from other industries.

"The pioneering projects for which we have announced funding today can reduce both the costs and the carbon footprint of the railway industry and help innovative companies succeed, both here and in export markets."

(CM/MH)