5 ms·

Add an hour commute to the airport, another hour at check-in and security and 10x the emissions: it's actually a fun experience going by night train, especially

Add an hour commute to the airport, another hour at check-in and security and 10x the emissions: it's actually a fun experience going by night train, especially when traveling with kids.

asdff 3y ago
Per passenger mpg between a train and a plane isn't all that far off. Planes tend to travel pretty full so per passenger mpg is pretty high, like 100mpg. You get better per passenger mpg with a train but the train needs to get decent ridership. Depending on where you are going, maybe the train and bus service doesn't get too much ridership and your flight in might actually work out to be the greenest way.
- mjmahone17 3y ago
  A key advantage of trains is they can be fully electric and don’t need to carry their entire fuel load on board. An electrified train running on nuclear or wind supplied power basically can’t be beat for low-environmental-impact long distance travel. And even for non-electric trains, diesel trains with a mere 23 people per car have a BTU per passenger mile of 2,000, compared to a typical 30mpg car’s 4,000 BTU per mile. And even if it’s not yet electric, buying the right of way and building the rail lines is better preparation for that future all-electric world. Plus the more trains exist, the more full they’ll typically be, and the better we’ll get at making them more efficient.
- ant6n 3y ago
  Radiative forcing-wise, flying emits 200g equivalent of co2 per pax-km, rail about 20g. And that’s largely due to infrastructure, so the marginal „cost“ of more trains is low.
  - asdff 3y ago
    The marginal cost of more trains being low depends on there being infrastructure at all, and some countries and areas are much better built out for this than others. For example, whats the marginal cost of another high speed train from Tokyo to Osaka? Probably low, the high speed tracks are already there and there is probably ample platform capacity at either end. Move east to Califnornia and whats the cost of adding another high speed train from SF to LA where there wasn't one previously? We are looking at north of 100 billion dollars here for this link and years of work. Quite a mountain of money, time, and effort, compared to e.g. scheduling another plane to land even at a tiny airport in an impoverished country.

Add an hour commute to the airport, another hour at check-in and security and 10x the emissions: it's actually a fun experience going by night train, especially when traveling with kids.

asdff 3y ago

Per passenger mpg between a train and a plane isn't all that far off. Planes tend to travel pretty full so per passenger mpg is pretty high, like 100mpg. You get better per passenger mpg with a train but the train needs to get decent ridership. Depending on where you are going, maybe the train and bus service doesn't get too much ridership and your flight in might actually work out to be the greenest way.

mjmahone17 3y ago
A key advantage of trains is they can be fully electric and don’t need to carry their entire fuel load on board. An electrified train running on nuclear or wind supplied power basically can’t be beat for low-environmental-impact long distance travel. And even for non-electric trains, diesel trains with a mere 23 people per car have a BTU per passenger mile of 2,000, compared to a typical 30mpg car’s 4,000 BTU per mile. And even if it’s not yet electric, buying the right of way and building the rail lines is better preparation for that future all-electric world. Plus the more trains exist, the more full they’ll typically be, and the better we’ll get at making them more efficient.
ant6n 3y ago
Radiative forcing-wise, flying emits 200g equivalent of co2 per pax-km, rail about 20g. And that’s largely due to infrastructure, so the marginal „cost“ of more trains is low.
- asdff 3y ago
  The marginal cost of more trains being low depends on there being infrastructure at all, and some countries and areas are much better built out for this than others. For example, whats the marginal cost of another high speed train from Tokyo to Osaka? Probably low, the high speed tracks are already there and there is probably ample platform capacity at either end. Move east to Califnornia and whats the cost of adding another high speed train from SF to LA where there wasn't one previously? We are looking at north of 100 billion dollars here for this link and years of work. Quite a mountain of money, time, and effort, compared to e.g. scheduling another plane to land even at a tiny airport in an impoverished country.