> 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 t

> 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. While the article you're quoting does indeed claim that is the case, it does have (Amtrak) in parentheses. Here's some data I have: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kandatoshiaki/20141002-00039589/ https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kandatoshiaki/20141002-00039... A Shinkansen eats 270,000 yen worth of electricity for a single trip from Tokyo to Osaka, and 1 kWh is 12-14.8 yen. A full train would seat about 1300 passengers. So every passenger pays about 208 yen, which works out to about 16 kWh. To side-step awkward conversions, let's look at the electric cars with the best efficiency on https://pushevs.com/electric-car-range-efficiency-epa/ https://pushevs.com/electric-car-range-efficiency-epa/, highway efficiency: 2019-2020 Jaguar I-Pace 29.1 kWh/100 km (5 passengers => 5.82 kWh/100 km per passenger) 2019 Tesla Model X 22.5 kWh/100 km (7 passengers => 3.21 kWh/100 km per passenger) Tokyo-Osaka is 515 km by train, 506 km by car. So in the Tesla you'd use 16.2426 kWh per passenger, which is pretty much the same. Here come the less reliable figures: this Yahoo Answers thread suggests Shinkansen are about 58% full on average. I don't have any data for cars, but I usually don't see many cars that are completely packed, but I have seen Shinkansen that were over-capacity. I also have a feeling it would be pretty tough to attain this figure in the car. Occasionally you'd have to spend time in traffic jams, and it's a 5-6 hour ride anyway. Plus, if the Shinkansen were to go as slow as the car, it would probably use much less energy. One more data bite I've seen is that the railway company in Germany currently uses 57% renewable energy (https://www.railway-technology.com/news/deutsche-bahn-signs-five-year-renewable-energy-deal/ https://www.railway-technology.com/news/deutsche-bahn-signs-...).