Environmentally, the traveler’s choice is often unclear

Article by Eddi Bellando

Photographs by Tamara Lee

I have loved trains since I was very young. As I grew older and evermore aware of climate change and its disastrous impacts, I chose train travel as often as possible to lessen my negative effect on the environment. While reading The New York Times, I was disturbed to learn that trains are not always the most environmentally sound method of travel – especially in most of the United States. The great majority of U.S. trains run on diesel, one of the most polluting fuels. In the St. Louis region, all intercity trains run on diesel. In countries where most trains run on electricity, train travel is usually the most environmentally sound way to go. Amtrak and other U.S. train companies plan to make big changes in how they acquire and use energy, but how fast will meaningful change occur?

The U.S. transportation sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Hiroko Tabuchi, a Times reporter covering business and climate, traveled for work by train from New York City to Stanford, California, a 3,400-mile journey, assuming that it was better for the environment. “But when I got back home and crunched the numbers,” Tabuchi wrote in an April 2024 articl­e, “I discovered something surprising: it would have been less polluting for me to have flown…. I ended up emitting more planet-warming emissions (by using the train).”

A nonstop flight from New York to San Francisco, according to Google Flights, emits an average of about 840 pounds of carbon dioxide per economy class passenger. Tabuchi researched estimates of carbon emissions per passenger-mile and discovered that her Amtrak trip had emitted between 950 and 1,133 pounds of carbon dioxide per passenger.

“Amtrak is far cleaner than flying where its tracks are electrified, along the Northeast Corridor, from Washington to Boston,” Tabuchi wrote. “But outside the Northeast, Amtrak trains run on diesel…. What’s more, Amtrak’s trains are decades old. (Its single-level Amfleet cars were built in the late 1970s.)” These older transports require more energy per mile.

Amtrak is still the more climate-friendly option for those who travel 300 to 400 miles, Tabuchi says. “It’s when journeys start getting longer than about 700 miles that planes start to gain an advantage on trains.”

Amtrak’s website claims that “riding Amtrak is one of the most sustainable ways to travel. That’s because it is 46 percent more energy-efficient than driving and 34 percent more than flying. Plus, our electric trains produce up to 72 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than planes, and 83 percent less than cars.” Such efficiencies do not apply to Amtrak’s diesel trains, which comprise most of their nationwide network.

Even when using electrical power, positive effects are greatly reduced when that power is generated using fossil fuel. In 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, 60 percent of large-scale electricity generation came from power plants that burned coal, natural gas and petroleum fuels.

A wider problem

Not only Amtrak, but most regional transit networks in the U.S., are not electrified. Of the 11 rail lines of the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation (Metra), which serves the Chicago area, only three are electrified. St. Louis MetroLink trains and (some buses) are electrically powered but the energy’s provenance is unclear. “Bi-State Development (the parent organization of Metro Transit) is a large purchaser of energy from Ameren to power light rail trains and electric buses on the Metro Transit system and for providing electricity to our facilities in Missouri and Illinois,” reads a statement by Taulby Roach, President and CEO of Bi-State Development. “However, Ameren does not distinguish the resources it uses to produce the electricity. We are engaged in multi-year energy purchase agreements with Ameren that are created to develop green energy resources.”

Only 1 percent of North America’s 161,560-mile rail network is electrified. 85 percent of India’s are electrified and 72 percent of China’s.

While Amtrak trains are electrified in the Northeast corridor, if you take the Long Island Rail Road from New York to Port Jefferson (70 miles), you have to get off mid-way at Huntington, where the electrified line stops, and switch to the diesel train. If you go to the Jersey Shore from New York to Bay Head, the New Jersey Transit line (67 miles) is electrified only to Long Branch, where you must switch to diesel to complete the trip. Both companies also run electro-diesel locomotives on other lines, which can be powered either with electricity or an onboard diesel engine.

NYC’s Grand Central Terminal hosts some of the nation’s electrified train routes.

That trains are not always better for the climate was confirmed by a 2022 study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a U.S. Department of Transportation agency. The study noted that the transportation sector in the United States is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The study compared travel modes on four routes – between St. Louis and Chicago, Boston and New York, Washington and Orlando, and Los Angeles and San Diego.

When traveling between St. Louis and Chicago (258 miles by air, 284 by rail), the worst option for the climate was the car (emissions of carbon dioxide: 427.5 pounds per person), followed by the plane (406.5), the train (104.3) and the bus (81.8).

From Los Angeles to San Diego (109 miles by air, 130 by rail), the train generated less than half the emissions per passenger (97.4 pounds per person) of flying (231.5) and about half the emissions of driving (191.8). The bus (33.51) was – once again! – the best option.

On the longest route, between Washington and Orlando (860 miles by train, 759 by air), the train was almost as bad as the plane: emissions per passenger (494.3 pounds per person) were only slightly lower than for someone flying (499.6). Using the car (302) or the bus (244.9) was better. Amtrak uses diesel locomotives on that route. I was particularly disappointed by this result, because I repeatedly endured the 26-hour New York-West Palm Beach train ride to visit my mother-in-law, thinking it would make a difference.

Overall, the agency’s study concluded that “travel by car or air were the most carbon-intensive modes. Traveling by train or bus was found to have substantially lower operational carbon dioxide emissions.” Overall, travelling by bus produced less emissions than travelling by diesel train on the equivalent route. The electric train, Boston to New York, had the lowest emissions, generating less than a fifth of the emissions of flying or driving.

Playing catch-up?

Unfortunately, only 806 miles of our country’s rail lines are electrified – compared to Europe’s 69,000 miles and China’s 25,000 miles. Only the 457-mile Northeast Corridor, the 104-mile Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, and some branch lines are electrified. Amtrak owns those tracks.

Some experts, however, highlight the positive. “Passenger trains remove travelers from high-pollution airplanes, automobiles and buses to low pollution – or, in the case of electrified rail, no pollution – rail transportation”, said Professor Allan M. Zarembski, Director of the Railroad Engineering and Safety Program at the University of Delaware. Of course, as discussed, this benefit depends on many factors, from length of trip to mode of power production.

“Per passenger mile, trains emit considerably less carbon dioxide than automobiles and planes,” said Professor Roderick A. Smith of the Future Rail Research Centre, Imperial College London. But trains would need to be a huge share of the overall transit picture to make a big impact. “This is unlikely in the U.S., except for some niche routes and commuting into big cities on the East and West coasts.” And, among other factors, how energy is applied and used is a very important part of the equation.

Trains also need high seat occupancy, Professor Smith added. “It is therefore unlikely that trains can make a significant impact on emissions in the U.S. The use of automobiles and planes is so well-established. However, in Western Europe and many Asian countries the situation is different. In Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, for example, trains make a huge reduction in carbon emissions.”

The writer took his earliest train ride from this Turin station.

Like many children, I have loved trains since my earliest years. When I was 5 years old, I kept pestering my father to take me on a train ride. He finally succumbed, taking me on a short ride from my hometown of Turin, Italy, to the next town, Moncalieri, Italy. I vividly remember climbing into the train, the conductor in his uniform, and the landscape scrolling away fast before my eyes. Although it was a roundtrip of only 36 minutes, it was magical.

I would love to take inter-urban and long-distance trains more often. To visit my in-laws, I would gladly take the train all the way from New York to Omaha. Unfortunately, there is only one train per day, and the Omaha-Chicago part of the route departs at 5:10 in the morning. The bus is more convenient. One of the reasons I prefer train travel is because air travel has become evermore problematic (security checks, long lines, delays, cancellations, lost luggage…), while the quality of train travel has remained the same or, perhaps, has even improved slightly.

While in my adopted home city, I use electrified trains, riding the New York City subway almost every day.

One Word: Batteries

Only 1 percent of North America’s 161,560-mile rail network is electrified, according to climate expert Michael Barnard. By contrast, 85 percent of India’s rails are electrified, followed by Japan (80 percent), China (72), Europe (60), Australia (50), and Africa (15), Barnard said in a November 2023 Forbes article. The legendary Trans-Siberian railroad (Moscow to Vladivostok, 5,771 miles) is fully electrified.

Barnard, who focuses on freight transport, says that it’s getting easier to electrify rail, even if the American Association of Railroads and the Department of Transportation say it is difficult. “The main problem is the bridges and tunnels… Putting overhead trolley wires across bridges or through tunnels would mean rebuilding the bridges and heightening the tunnels. That’s expensive.

“Is there an answer to this?” Barnard asks. “Yes, there is. Batteries. It’s not hard to put batteries on trains. By definition, trains haul vastly heavier things.”

There is a lively debate over the efficiency of battery-powered electric trains, but they are now used in northern Germany. Metra, the Chicago-area transit company, converted six of its oldest diesel locomotives to zero-emission battery power, and Wabtec Corporation, a rail technology company, unveiled the world’s first battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive in Pennsylvania last October.

According to Barnard, upgrading to electric is particularly difficult because more than 700 corporations own pieces of the U.S. rail network. However, states RailState, a firm which tracks freight, only six freight corporations in the United States and Canada are Class I – that is, have annual revenue exceeding $250 million. Three of the largest are BNSF Railway ($25.9 billion revenue in 2022, 32,500 route miles), Union Pacific Railroad ($24.9 billion, 32,100 miles), and CSX Transportation ($14.9 billion, 20,000 miles). The other three Class I companies each have more than $9 billion in yearly revenue and more than 20,000 route miles. Each company dwarfs Amtrak’s 2023 revenue of $3.39 billion. Unlike in many other countries, private corporations own both the U.S. rights-of-way and the tracks on which their trains operate. That represents approximately 140,000 miles of the 161,560 miles of U.S. track.

The federal government owns the Northeast Corridor track and operates it under the auspices of Amtrak. Everywhere else Amtrak operates, it does not own the track. Amtrak operates under lease agreements with Class I or regional railroads. Over 70 percent of Amtrak’s travel occurs on tracks owned by freight railroads.

In most of our country, freight takes precedence over passenger traffic. If Amtrak trains miss their scheduled time slots, they must wait for freight trains to pass. I repeatedly experienced this on the New York-West Palm Beach route, sometimes waiting an hour or more for a freight to pass. And, yes, as the passenger’s frustration increases, so does his or her carbon footprint.

Even diesel trains help

“Freight in the U.S. is rail-dominated and is a very positive reducer of emissions,” says Professor Smith of Imperial College London. According to the Association of American Railroads, an industry trade group, “freight rail is the most fuel-efficient way to move goods over land. One train can move nearly 500 tons on one gallon of fuel while also removing hundreds of trucks off the highway. Moving freight by rail instead of truck lowers greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 percent, on average.”

The Federal Railroad Administration says the U.S. freight rail network is widely considered the largest, safest and most cost-efficient freight system in the world. Nonetheless, Smith notes that “track quality is poor and there are too many derailments.”

Toronto’s Union Station is a major intermodal transportation hub.

The number of passenger seats is an important factor: the greater number of seats in a train car, the higher the fuel efficiency. The average Amtrak coach car has 58 seats. The seats are ample, comfortable, and remind me of an airline business-class seat. Each car of the two-level Amtrak Superliner, used for long-distance trips, can accommodate 75 people. The first-class car in the Acela fast train, which operates in the Northeast Corridor, can accommodate 46 people.

By comparison, the long-distance British Class 185 train averages 66 seats per car, and the economy car of VIA Rail Canada has 68 seats. The standard 16-car train of Japan’s high-speed train, the Shinkansen, carries more than 1,300 passengers, or 81 per car. The 2023 report of the Central Japan Railways Company notes that the carbon dioxide emissions per seat of the Tokaido Shinkansen line, operating between Tokyo and Osaka (320 miles), are about one twelfth those of an aircraft.

Long-term neglect

That only 1 percent of North America’s rails are electrified demonstrates a broader problem of neglect. Many books and films document how the U.S. moved away from train culture and into car culture. All around our country you can easily find abandoned or repurposed train stations. In 1894, St. Louis’s own Union Station, a jewel of the Romanesque Revival architectural style, was the largest in the world that housed its tracks and passenger service areas on one level. That same station now contains an aquarium, hotel, restaurant and sundry other entertainments – and, while beautifully restored, berths not one working train. There are model trains, expertly and lovingly crafted, as well as a mockup train car at the mouth of the recently opened aquarium that emulates travel through the area using screens and sounds – that goes absolutely nowhere. Where many locomotives simultaneously throbbed under a massive train shed are now only fields of asphalt for tourists’ cars.

Buffalo’s Central Terminal has hosted many enterprises but hasn’t had a train arrive there in 45 years. Further restoration efforts are underway.

Omaha’s Union Station, a fine example of Art Deco architecture, is now the Durham Museum. Detroit’s Michigan Central Station, a Beaux-Arts showpiece, became a symbol of decay after it closed in 1988; the Ford Motor Company is now turning it, for nearly a billion dollars, into an innovation center – yet not one active train visits there. Buffalo’s Central Terminal, an Art Deco masterpiece, is now owned by a non-profit aiming to make the station “a lasting cultural and economic hub.” The office tower of Pittsburgh’s Union Station, a Beaux-Arts landmark, was turned into luxury condominiums. At least those buildings – all on the National Register of Historic Places – were not demolished, as was New York’s Pennsylvania Station in 1963. But where are the trains?

A similar destiny has befallen the rails themselves, some 25,000 miles of which have been covered up or removed and then turned into biking, hiking or other types of trails. The country’s longest developed rail trail, Missouri’s 240-mile Katy Trail State Park, was built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. The Great Allegheny Passage, formerly run by four railways, is now a 150-mile rail trail between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, Maryland. The 229-mile Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail in Washington state was originally a railroad line that was decommissioned in 1980. While the artful repurposing of these rail lines is viewed as an environmentally helpful reuse, it does displace train travel.

Photo by Gabe Shapiro

This secondary St. Louis railroad station hasn’t hosted a train since 1970.

Hope ahead

Despite the slow movement towards a greener mode for U.S. train travel, there are positive developments:

• Amtrak has committed to achieving a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target for 2045, with an interim target of 40 percent reduction by 2030. Measures include using renewable diesel and carbon-free electricity for electrified routes and developing zero emissions solutions for locomotives.

• Amtrak announced in 2022 that 125 cleaner, faster and more efficient engines would be in service by 2029. These diesel-electric units, slated for long-distance Amtrak service, will consume less fuel and reduce emission of nitrogen oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, by more than 89 percent.

• Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the busiest passenger rail line in the Western Hemisphere, every day carries more than 800,000 riders who otherwise would drive or fly. In June of this year, Amtrak announced plans for 20 percent weekday service increases along that corridor during the next year.

• Chicago’s Metra last October received a $169.3 million federal grant to buy 16 battery-powered, zero-emission trainsets, which do not require locomotives. Metra will be among the first in the nation to operate the technology.

• And, in late 2023, Brightline, a privately-owned train company, started high-speed electric service from Miami to Orlando. Last December Brightline West got a $3 billion federal grant for a Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail. The rest of the project will be privately funded and has received $3.5 billion in private activity bonds. The plan is to have the 218-mile rail line open in time for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. The project is expected to reduce greenhouse gases by over 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of 16,000 short-haul flights.

A reckoning

Discovering that train travel can sometimes be more planet-scalding than airplane travel was a personal blow. Luckily, I mostly ride the train on the electrified Northern Corridor and its side branches. And there is often another alternative: a 2023 study by the travel search platform Wanderu confirms that intercity buses are the most sustainable mode of transportation in the U.S., and that taking the bus instead of flying can decrease one’s carbon footprint by up to 77.5 percent.

I will still take the train and bus to visit my in-laws in Omaha once a year. I no longer plan to visit Florida, as my mother-in-law moved back to Omaha.

There are some cases where taking the train in the United States is the most environmentally sound way to go. Let’s hope that more electrified train routes are energetically supported by our government, taxpayers and travelers so they spread throughout our country. Let’s catch up with the rest of the world.

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Eddi Bellando was born in Turin, Italy, in 1955, and worked as a journalist in Italy and as a writer/editor for the United Nations in Nairobi and New York. Eddi’s time at the U.N. included stints as an election monitor in El Salvador and the Central African Republic. Eddi recently earned his PhD in philosophy from Stony Brook University. This is Eddi’s second article for Supplement St. Louis.