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Trains Are Cleaner Than Planes, Right? The surprising carbon footprint of an Amtrak trip across America. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 7 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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The big difference is of course that you can electrify trains, as has happened in much of Europe and Asia, but not for most of Amtrak

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[–] federalreverse@feddit.de 59 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

tldr: The article is about a specific case that involves old trains + lots of space per passenger + very long distance + diesel engine.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, which is what you get in the US. Very different in Europe, where distances are shorter, passengers are packed tightly, and the trains are often electrified.

[–] mondoman712@lemmy.ml 24 points 7 months ago

Just to note, this doesn't apply to every journey, only the really long distance ones.

Amtrak is still the more climate-friendly option for the vast majority of travelers, who on average travel 300 to 400 miles, said Olivia Irvin, a spokeswoman for the rail company. (That is, not many people are crazy enough to go cross-country by train.) A 2022 Department of Transportation study found that traveling by train from Los Angeles to San Diego generated less than half the emissions, per passenger, of flying, or driving. For Boston to New York, an electrified route, taking the train generated less than a fifth the emissions of flying or driving.

[–] sonori@beehaw.org 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The problem with electrification however is that while it on average half’s an railroads operating costs, it takes significant upfront investment. Given most of Amtrak runs over fright railroads, and even if it didn’t fright is by far the larger source of carbon, you need to convince said fright railways to make the upfront investment.

Since they are currently in a state of self described ‘managed decline’ as Wall Street and private equity loot the old giants for everything they can, we probably arn’t going to see much progress on that front until Conrail 2, nationalization repairs the US rail system after private companies messed it up round four.

[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

or you just nationalize the railways

[–] sonori@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Um yes, that’s what I said it would take?

[–] MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 2 points 7 months ago

Conrail was taken over by the US government to be privatized as quickly as possible. That is really not the kind of nationalization you want for a railway. It is basically just government support for the private sector.