Robert Johnstone |
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I recently bought some train tickets using the National Express East Coast website and was surprised to be provided with an estimate of the amount of CO_2 emitted as a result of the journey and how much I was ‘saving’ by not going by car, or flying. I was quite impressed by this. Further investigation revealed that the conversion factor used is 0.052 kg CO2 per passenger kilometre. Slightly suspiciously, this is less than half of the factor used in the Leeds CRAG carbon calculator (0.13 kg CO2 per pass. km). I would guess that this is because the East Coast trains don’t stop as much as local trains and are therefore more efficient. Does anyone know better?
(The National Express East Coast website is also notable by the fact that it allows you to make bicycle bookings, something that I always had to do in person at the station before.)
Is the rolling stock electric ?
Rick M
Hi, I believe the East Coast line is electrified and that electric trains are significnantly more efficient than diesel ones. So, the lower figure seems plausible to me. However, if your CRAG are using a network average CO2/passenger km figure across all lines and train types, then I would have said it is essential to use that network average figure unless discussed & agreed otherwise by your CRAG.