Do trains pollute the environment?
“When you take into account the production of railroad equipment and tracks, all of that is very carbon intensive as well,” says Hamilton. “Take the entire picture and trains are actually more polluting than the road buses, even though buses all run with dirty diesel fuel.”
Emissions comparison
Rail transportation emits about 0.2 pounds of greenhouse gases per passenger mile (55 g/km) when each car is filled with 50 passengers. This figure increases to about 0.5 pounds per passenger mile (140 g/km) when only filled with half that amount.
Train travel remains overall the most environmentally friendly mode of motorised passenger transport in Europe — in terms of greenhouse gas emissions — as compared to travelling by car or plane, according to two transport and environment studies published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today.
Rail transport is the most environment-friendly way to travel. The greenhouse effect of gas emissions per kilometer on railway transport is 80% less than cars. In some countries, less than 3% of all transport gas emissions come from trains.
According to EPA data, freight railroads account for just 0.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and just 1.9% of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. AAR analysis of federal data finds: Moving more freight by rail instead of road would spur even greater GHG reductions.
On average, railroads are three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks. That means moving freight by rail instead of truck lowers greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%, on average.
Still, planes remain among the most polluting means of transport, together with cars. On a journey of, for example, 500 hundred kilometers, a plane pollutes 10 to 50 times more than a high-speed electric train and 5 to 10 times more than a bus.
During operation, the main disturbances caused by railways are air, soil and water pollution, as well as noise and vibration, which may alter species richness and species abundance (e.g. Penone et al.
Trains are statistically much safer than driving. In 2020, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics recorded 40,867 total deaths from travel, including in planes, in cars on highways and on trains.
Comparing Planes, Trains, and Cars
If you take the train, then you'll cut carbon dioxide (CO2) by half compared to the plane. A key reason is that the train (or the diesel bus) may be a big carbon emitter, but it's designed to carry a lot of passengers, so the per capita emissions are a lot lower.
Do electric trains cause pollution?
As with all electric vehicles, there are significant cuts in carbon emissions when using electric trains as opposed to diesel or steam driven trains-pollution from the train itself is essentially zero.
Rail travel and freight emits very little – only 1% of transport emissions. Other transport – which is mainly the movement of materials such as water, oil, and gas via pipelines – is responsible for 2.2%.
Sustainable travel
Aside from walking or biking, taking the train is the most environmentally friendly way of traveling. In fact, compared to cars and airplanes, trains emit between 66 and 75 percent less carbon. In terms of energy consumption, use of space, and noise levels, trains are far more sustainable too.
They found the air quality is so bad that the cancer risk for families living closest to the rail yards is 180 times higher than what's considered acceptable. And the soot that spreads for miles around these yards increases the likelihood of cancer for 1.2 million people.
35.1 g CO2e per passenger km in 2019-20
The resulting CO2e emissions for passenger trains have fallen to 35.1g CO2e per passenger km. This is the lowest level since the comparable time series started in 2011-12.
According to the European Environment Agency, rail travel accounts for 14 grams of CO2 emissions per passenger mile, which is dwarfed by the 285 grams generated by air travel, and the 158 grams per passenger miles from journeys in cars.
Trains offer greater flexibility at each stage of the journey, making family train travel easier and less stressful than flying. Children can move around more freely than on a plane, and you'll have the space to pack home comforts.
Bus travel is an even eco-friendlier alternative, emitting even less carbon dioxide than trains on short and long trips, according to the EPA. Interestingly, on longer trips of more than 700 miles, train and plane emissions per passenger are comparable, the EPA found. Bus travel is still the greenest option.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, locomotive diesel exhaust is made up of particulate matter, smog-forming oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, greenhouse gases and “a noxious brew of toxic chemicals that together pose a cancer risk greater than that of any other air pollutant.”
Passenger rail is around three times more efficient than a car on a passenger-mile basis at current occupancy levels. The lower energy consumption leads to lower greenhouse emissions.
How much pollution does transportation cause?
The primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are: Transportation (27% of 2020 greenhouse gas emissions) – The transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions.
Household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
Vehicle pollutants harm our health and contain greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Burning gasoline and diesel fuel creates harmful byproducts like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, benzene, and formaldehyde. In addition, vehicles emit carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas.
The research indeed reveals that a full bus (70 passengers) emits only . 14 pounds of carbon per passenger mile, leagues better than the . 89 pounds for a typical car with one occupant.
Traveling on a train during a thunderstorm is completely safe. The train is extremely conductive and will absorb the strike. In fact, unless your house has a lightning rod, you would be safer on a train during a storm.