3 ms·
As a rule of thumb high speed rail is 1/10 the CO2 of flying. However, I wonder what the carbon footprint of creating the tracks is?
by bluthru 9y ago
As a rule of thumb high speed rail is 1/10 the CO2 of flying. However, I wonder what the carbon footprint of creating the tracks is?
- dx034 9y agoThe track can be used for 1-2 centuries (as they have been in Europe). That includes many refurbishments and replacement of steel but much of the construction cost will be low per passenger.
- baud147258 9y agoOlder tracks can't be used for high speed trains. In France, all the new high-speed lines are constructed for this usage (lot of straight lines). On older lines, an high-speed train will be at the same speed as a normal commuter train.
- ebikelaw 9y agoHe didn’t say they could. But tracks built today can be used forever, because wheel-on-rail technology has a hard limit at Mach 0.5 and we’ll never have faster trains than we have today.