Europe's first train powered by bio-diesel went into service here Thursday with Britain's next prime minister Gordon Brown on board for its maiden journey. Finance minister Brown travelled on the Virgin Voyager train which left London Euston station for Llandudno on the north Wales coast.
The train has been modified to run on a blended fuel which is 20 percent environmentally-friendly bio-diesel -- fuel derived from sustainable and biological sources such as rapeseed, soyabean and palm oil -- and produces less carbon dioxide emissions than diesel.
Virgin Trains hopes to convert its entire fleet to run on bio-diesel if a six-month trial proves successful.
Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson believes the move could slash its carbon dioxide emissions by 14 percent -- which the rail operator believes is the equivalent of taking 23,000 cars off the road.
"It's fantastic that we are leading the rest of Europe in developing this fuel," the tycoon told reporters.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown, who will take over as prime minister when Tony Blair steps down on June 27, told reporters he was delighted that bio-diesel was being used.
"I want Britain to be a world leader in the development and use of environmentally-friendly fuels and I believe they will play a fundamental part in our efforts to reduce emissions and tackle climate change," he said.
"If this scheme works well we are prepared to look at other things. We are prepared to look at what could be done in the future.
"We have to prove that this works. If it works I want other train companies to consider using bio-diesel."
The train will travel on Virgin routes across Britain during the six-month experiment.
In Brown's last budget, he announced that the rate of duty paid on the kind of fuels used in the Virgin Trains pilot would be "permanently reduced" -- from 54.68 pence to 7.69 pence a litre (1.08 dollars, to 15 cents, 80 euro cent to 11 euro cent).
"The government will take the results of this pilot into account alongside other factors when taking future decision about duty levels," a Treasury spokesman said.
Source: Agence France-Presse
