*Unions. It was, conveniently, the miners as the grudge for '72 was strong, but it didn't have to be. In the US it was air traffic controllers. Coal use just shifted from domestic to imported.

Coal use just shifted from domestic to imported. And then it ended. Apart from steel making and a tiny amount for heritage railways etc aside, all industrial and electrical generation use of coal has ended. Because of political will.

I'm not disputing that. I'm saying the miners strike, and subsequent closures of UK pits, had little to do with the decline in coal use overall. Increasing oil and gas had a far greater impact.

Agreed. But complete closure was not inevitable. The construction industry / road lobby is just as much a barrier to decarbonisation as the "fossil fuel" lobby. That power station has a new road past it but the nearby rail line remains unelectrified as a direct consequence of lobbying.

A lot of our existing rail network is not possible to switch to electric unfortunately due to its proximity to roads etc...also Victorian tunnels that aren't big enough...the network needs billions investing which would also likely have to include re-routing of tracks.

In the shorter terms better town planning could drastically reduce the need for vehicles & a government that supports freight by rail rather than road

Which means you have to take political actions to override road lobby: road closures for dedicated public transport routes, trams, new cycle lanes, less parking and walkable neighbourhoods. This govt shows no sign of taking these actions.

Electrification is on the move... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Full electrification of Midland Mainline and Great Western Mainline is needed to allow the prospects of freight being electrified and very fast trains. But batteries / partial electrification + batteries is vital for branch lines.

A rail engineer told me recently that train lines with tunnels can be electrified such that the trains run on batteries just through the tunnels where power can’t be taken from overhead.

Midland Mainline is ready for electrification with most setup tasks already done (bridge replacements etc). The only thing that is now needed is Treasury to release funding for the wiring process. Somehow new roads always get precedence for capital.

Big oil lobbying probably?

TBH "Big construction" are a more powerful lobby. New roads = jobs in the narrative; financial benefits of reduced congestion (completely spurious but key to Treasury models); local business organisations always support new roads.