How environment-friendly is rail transport in comparison with road and air travel?
Rail transport makes a significant contribution to environment-friendly mobility: most trains travel without directly emitting exhaust gases – they are powered by electricity, some of which comes from renewable energy sources, such as water and wind. Between 1990 and 2002, DB – based on transport performance figures – also reduced its primary energy consumption by 18.5 %. Climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect dropped in the same period by over a quarter. Even a half-full train is considerably more climate-friendly than a fully loaded aircraft. Air travel has double the environmental impact: and it means that an aircraft on average generates 5 times more CO2 per person than a train. In addition, the polluting effects of aircraft emissions in the higher levels of the atmosphere are magnified many times. Rail travel also fares well when compared with car travel. A car carrying an average number of people emits four times more climate-poll
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