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With a real carbon tax these numbers would actually be further apart. I was surprised to learn that in the real world trains are not more efficient than a the a
by reddog 7y ago
With a real carbon tax these numbers would actually be further apart. I was surprised to learn that in the real world trains are not more efficient than a the average car when measured in passenger mile per gallon equivalent. And trains are much less efficient when compared to a high MPG cars like a Prius. In fact I'd be willing to bet that there are only a few of city/regional public transportations systems in the world that are more energy efficient than just taking your Prius.
https://theicct.org/blogs/staff/planes-trains-and-automobiles-counting-carbon https://theicct.org/blogs/staff/planes-trains-and-automobile...
- phlo 7y agoInterestingly, the Swiss railway system publishes real-world figures on its Co2 efficiency per passenger-kilometer. [https://www.mobitool.ch/de/tools/vergleichsrechner-15.html https://www.mobitool.ch/de/tools/vergleichsrechner-15.html, german-only, un nfortunately] They report some 80 passenger-km per liter of Diesel equivalent energy, compared to 13 passenger-km in a modern hybrid. Both values include the energy production, utilization and energy expenditure for infrastructure. This assumes a modern network with electric trains though. I'm not sure if the article you cited still uses diesel-powered trains to arrive at such extremely different figures.
- c22 7y agoBut that's just looking at fuel efficiency. What about the carbon cost of manufacture? How long does a train car stay in service vs a prius? What is the cost to manufacture a train car vs individual prii for n passengers?