Rail Transport: Climate Friendly
Those who go on vacation are spoiled for choice when it comes to the means of travel. The most popular, cars and airplanes, are unfortunately also the worst for the environment.
Rail fahrplanauskunft: How do you travel?
Pack your suitcase, get in and off you go. Germans would rather go on vacation with nothing than their own car. If he’s going abroad, he also likes to get on a plane. Most importantly for him, the destination must be easily accessible, be it the North Sea or the Mediterranean. Otherwise, costs, punctuality, travel time and flexibility in the choice of means of transport are decisive. Environmental friendliness plays a rather minor role.
The car dominates everyday life
75 percent of all passenger kilometres are covered by car, 19 by public transport, three each on foot or by bike. Car sharing takes place mainly in big cities – and has no notable impact compared to the total traffic volume.
What does this mean for the environment? Germany is a nation of car drivers. The greenhouse gases here are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
Rail fahrplanauskunft: How should you travel?
The most common use of cars and airplanes is for travel. However, bus or train would be better. Admittedly, this is often not a realistic option for long-haul trips abroad. Within Germany, however, long-distance buses and trains are real alternatives and above all, they are environmentally friendly.
Full car or empty train – which is more environmentally friendly?
The load factor is important. The fuller a vehicle, the more people the pollutants are distributed to. In the average comparison of the emission values, the car first loses against the train.
If the vehicles were fully occupied, i.e. at 100 percent capacity, the emission values would in some cases be significantly reduced. The other way around, of course, if there were only one person, the per capita values on this route would be much higher than with average occupancy. Over a distance of 100 kilometres, the car would even be almost as climate-friendly as the train as long as it is fully occupied by five people. 3.8 kilograms of CO2 would be produced per person in the car, the consumption of one person in the ICE or IC would be 3.6 Kilograms.
