Train - is it the way to travel ?
Journo | 23.07.2004 15:50
With news this week that the car is a less polluting form of transport than the car should we re-think our views ?
New figures show that Britain's railways are losing their environmental advantage over the car, as cleaner, more efficient engines and fuel mean that diesel trains create more pollution.
'Both cars and trucks are getting cleaner and the railway hasn't made very much progress at all over the same period. There's no doubt road is catching up in terms of emissions and by some standards it could even have over taken it. Over the next decade it's very possible to argue road will be as good, possibly better.' ' said Malcolm Fergusson, senior fellow at the Institute of European Environmental Policy in London.
In the past decade, toxic emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulates and sulphur from the British car fleet have halved as pollution from new cars has been slashed by 97 per cent due to advances in petrol, diesel and engines, driven by regulations to force the industry to 'green up'.
At the same time, the European car industry has cut carbon dioxide by 13 per cent, and has promised to double that figure Improvements on rail, however, have been much slower. Tougher European new engine regulations come into force in two years, but it would take decades to replace existing dirtier rolling stock.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1148613,00.html
'Both cars and trucks are getting cleaner and the railway hasn't made very much progress at all over the same period. There's no doubt road is catching up in terms of emissions and by some standards it could even have over taken it. Over the next decade it's very possible to argue road will be as good, possibly better.' ' said Malcolm Fergusson, senior fellow at the Institute of European Environmental Policy in London.
In the past decade, toxic emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulates and sulphur from the British car fleet have halved as pollution from new cars has been slashed by 97 per cent due to advances in petrol, diesel and engines, driven by regulations to force the industry to 'green up'.
At the same time, the European car industry has cut carbon dioxide by 13 per cent, and has promised to double that figure Improvements on rail, however, have been much slower. Tougher European new engine regulations come into force in two years, but it would take decades to replace existing dirtier rolling stock.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1148613,00.html
Journo
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oops !
23.07.2004 16:24
"With news this week that the car is a less polluting form of transport than the train should we re-think our views ?"
O for a sub editor !
Journo
passengers
24.07.2004 14:38
Also we have an existing railway network that could take more trains whereas to increase the number of cars more roads have to be built.
This sounds like the argument that car users make about buses clogging up roads.
They use the fact that during the day many buses are only half full or less,but sitting on the bus that is almost empty one can still count 30 or 40 passengers ie 30 or 40 less cars on the road.
The worse pollution from trains comes when sitting at a station platform.
Like many of New Labours promises transport has not been improved.
Labour has just cancelled the proposed Metrolink extension in Manchester.Metrolink causes NO pollution.
I hate cars.
Iwant more buses and trains and Metrolinks.
sis
But European train services are being cut not increased .
25.07.2004 13:00
I used to travel by train a lot and still do from time to time.
In the 1970's it was possible to "ship" a trunk to your destination, you just took it down to Victoria and it arrived a few days after you and you didn't have to hump all your gear about with you .
My trunk was so big they had to send it via Le Havre because the unions at Calias wouldn't touch it.
Anyway my destination would often be Rome or Florence and everything worked out fine for some years until around 1990 the trunk would be taken of the trian in Milano and continue by road which delayed it's arrival by some days . By the mid ninties the service was gone.
But now we have the Channel Tunnel so obviously things are much better fast train too London here we go !
But no not at all. It used to be possible to book a ticket to london from any main line station in Italy and most of the country stations and certainly anmy half decent travel agents.
But Euro Star are not connected to the Euro rail booking network so it's only possible to book as far as Paris
Gard de Lyon (now Paris Bercy ) and then get across town to Gard du Nrod and take a chance on there beeing space on the next (delayed) train to London.
The last time I tried to book from Italy it was impossible even by credit card (don't have one) over the Internet.
They might get their shit together at some time and make it easier to book a through ticket to London from italian destinations but that won't save the overnight sleeper, from Florence to Paris which will be no more as of this year . travelling to other european destinations has also got worse. Rome Amsterdam is no more
expect on summer saturdays . The Kopenhagen express is long gone and so have many more.
repleced by fast EMU's that you have to pay three supplements and hence three times the costs no leg room as in an aeroplane air conditioning and this is what they call developement ? .
Like extending the bakerloo to Zurich !!!
Of course if you travel by road you'll be able to queue up with thousands of heavy lorries for hours on end
everytime there's road works or an accident both very frequent in Italy .
The people in the alps french and swiss and also in Austria are mounting big protests to highlight the damage trucks are doing to there local territories . If you take the road over Mont Blanc or Frejus there are many banners visible and also in swiss .. big business prefers cars and lorries ...
Thomas