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Monday 25 Jun 2007

REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT - TAKE THE TRAIN

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National

Britain's railway is one of the best choices for travellers wanting greener journeys, a new report reveals. The first sustainable development review of the rail industry, The Case for Rail 2007, identifies rail as a sustainable transport option that minimises impact on the environment. And it highlights several key achievements made by Network Rail to increase sustainability, social responsibility and safety, including spending on track renewal and maintenance to help reduce journey times, increased use of regenerative braking on the electrified network and potential noise reduction improvements. The review forms part of the Sustainable Rail Programme, a cross-industry initiative led by representatives from Network Rail, train operating companies, the RSSB and the DfT. Iain Coucher, Network Rail's Deputy Chief Executive, who sits on the sustainable development steering group, said: "This review demonstrates how critical co-operation is to the delivery of sustainability improvements. Capital investment or other changes in one part of the industry often deliver benefits in a different part of the industry or society." The review reveals that the average CO2 emission for a rail journey is around half that of an equivalent car journey and about one quarter of the same trip by plane. And rail contributes just 0.4 percent to Britain’s CO2 emissions. Britain's railways are the fastest-growing in Europe and the last decade has seen a 50 percent growth in demand against a backdrop of increasing public environmental awareness and concern about climate change.

• In 2006/7 Network Rail set aside £4.5bn for maintaining and renewing the network infrastructure and around £0.5bn to enhance capacity and reduce journey times. Projects include the Airdrie-Bathgate new line, extra platforms at Bristol Parkway and Kings Cross and a new station at East Midlands Parkway.
• Regenerative braking reduces the energy use of electric passenger trains by 15-20 percent and infrastructure system upgrades which will allow this across the entire overhead electrified network are set to be finished by the end of 2008.
• In a bid to reduce noise, rail roughness is now routinely measured to enable targeted grinding of rough track sections while advanced noise control technology is being developed in the form of tuned absorbers on rails.
• Network Rail has invested £8m in 2005/2006 for the removal of graffiti to improve the passenger experience.
• A secure stations scheme is helping to reduce vandalism, assaults and graffiti and station security is being improved through better lighting and the use of CCTV cameras.

The review comes in the same week that Network Rail announced its annual environment awards highlighting the best in environmental practice across the rail industry. The awards recognised projects that demonstrated innovation and passion for the environment and included the world’s first high speed hybrid train, a train operator who has committed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2012 and work to protect the habitat of an endangered butterfly.