Cross-Party Group on Sustainable Transport 10 May 2023, 18:00, Committee Room 2, Scottish Parliament Topic: Rail decarbonisation Held as a hybrid meeting in person and online Minutes Present MSPs Graham Simpson MSP (Convener, chairing) Mark Ruskell MSP (Vice-Convener) John Mason MSP (Vice-Convener) Sue Webber MSP Alex Rowley MSP Invited guests Guest speaker: David Clarke (Technical Director at Railway Industry Association) Guest speaker: Lee Pounder (Regional Director at SPL Powerlines UK) Non-MSP Group Members In person Paul Tetlaw (Transform Scotland) Robert Samson (Transport Focus) Colin Howden (Transform Scotland) Graeme Clark (Siemens Mobility) Chris Day (Transform Scotland) Mike Connelly (Connelly Comms Ltd) David Steele (Gibson’s Engineering Ltd) Allison Cosgrove (Railfuture Scotland) 1 Gus Russell (Tweed Valley Railway Campaign, minuting) Tom Flanagan (Transform Scotland) Lawrence Marshall (Capital Rail Action Group) Iain McDonald (Light Rail UK) Andy Williams (56 Degrees North) Sara Collier (CPT Scotland) Jack Sinclair (56 Degrees North) Josh Hill (Office of Graham Simpson MSP) Online David Giles (Scottish Association for Public Transport) Allan Comrie (SPT) David Murray-Smith (Scottish Association for Public Transport) Alastair Dalton (The Scotsman) Simon Watkins Ken Haig (Levenmouth Rail Campaign) Craig Laws (Enterprise Holdings) Dave du Feu (Spokes) Mike Lunan (Friends of the Far North Line) Gary Brown (ScotRail) Mark James (personal capacity) Laura Hyde-White (Transform Scotland) Colin Donaldson (Arcadis) Craig McGarrie (Intelligent Health) David Prescott (Allan Rail Ltd) Scott Prentice (ScotRail) Annette White (SPL Powerlines UK) Peter Ovenstone (Heritage Railway Association) 2 Gillian Rae (SPT) Aaron McHale (personal capacity) Meirion Thomas (Railway Industry Association) Apologies Sarah Boyack MSP (Vice-Convener) Mercedes Villalba MSP Jenny Milne (Scottish Rural and Islands Transport Community) Keith Irving (Cycling Scotland) Ian Budd (Friends of the Far North Line) Jane Ann Liston (StARLink (St Andrews Rail Link) campaign) Alastair McInroy (Technology Scotland) Vic MacKinlay (Light Rail UK) Maïna Coroller-Larifla (Sustrans) Caroline Thompson-Noble (Community Rail Network) Welcome and introductions The Convener, Graham Simpson MSP, welcomed the in-person and online attendees and confirmed that the group is conducting a short inquiry into the decarbonisation of transport and that the current meeting was looking at the rail sector.