Summer is coming – and so are my holiday plans. Maybe you’re planning a trip for the summer as well. In that case: this article is for you!
Image credit: JK
As of 2019, 59% of journeys to other countries were taken by plane. Slightly fewer journeys, 35%, were taken by car or bus. As few as 1% of people chose to travel by train. Maybe you’ve heard the complaints before: "It takes forever!", or "Trains are just so expensive!". Are those complaints true? Can travelling by train be enjoyable? And if not, are the drawbacks severe enough to justify firing up the climate crisis?
Transportation accounts for 24% of global CO2-emissions. Emissions that will cause us to exceed the 1.5-degree-goal, an event that the IPCC thinks is "almost inevitable". Emissions that cause people to die in extreme weather events, floods and droughts. Emissions that destroy livelihoods of people and animals. Emissions that could cause 1.2 billion people to lose everything and take flight.
Taking a train instead of flying could reduce CO2-emissions by 84 percent. Where should we draw the line?
Graphic taken from Visual Capitalist.
It’s Not Your Fault
People don’t choose to fly or travel by car because they’re bad people and want to see others suffering. They might simply want to spend quality time with family and friends, experience different cultures, or take a much-needed break from their tiring 9-5 jobs. Companies see that desire and try to turn it to cash. And they favour some means of transport over others.
If you search the word "holiday" in Google, offers for cheap flights from dozens of companies will pop up. Booking one of them is the easy option.
At the same time, the car industry spent $12.42 BILLION just on digital ads in the US alone. In contrast: all public investment into the US railway is only double that. So, who’s to blame if we forget the existence of trains over all that advertising?
These effects are deliberate political choices. The flight and car industries are multinational superpowers with strong lobbies, and sticking to fossil-powered travel (i.e. flying, driving) is in their best interest – even if it might not be for the general public. How else would they guarantee their shareholders’ profits? Ryanair can’t start producing trains by tomorrow. Not to mention that railways aren’t supposed to generate profits.
Benefits of Travelling by Train
But the story doesn’t end by accepting that railway networks are crumbling, investments are lacking, and prices are too high. Because that would fall short of seeing the bright sides. It’s evident that travelling by train reduces CO2-emissions and resource usage, so we’ll dive into another aspect: personal enjoyment.
1. Meeting New People
If you’re travelling by train, you’ll most likely be meeting people at train stations or on the train. Usually you can find yourself a travel-buddy quite easily, and sometimes your travel-buddy becomes a real long term friend.
2. Visiting Bonus Locations
If you’re travelling long distances, there’s a high chance you’ll need to switch trains. Why not plan a longer stop-over or stay for a night? That way you can dive into plenty of cultures along the way.
3. Appreciating the Distance
Going abroad – that’s a big thing. Why not make it big? A flight detaches you from the ground. After seeing clouds for a few hours, you arrive in a completely new environment. By taking things slowly and actually seeing landscapes, cities and cultures transition, you get a much more holistic idea of where you are and how different places are connected. There’s no such thing as a clear cut behind the border. Everything is entangled, interrelated. Journeys by train let you experience that.
Planning Your Eco-Friendly Journey
A few weeks ago, I travelled 1200 kilometres from southern Germany to northern Denmark. Now, I’m doubling down on that by travelling more than 4000 kilometres from Germany to Scotland and back. All by train. Planning this can take a lot of effort, but there are a many resources to help you!
1. Check out websites like Omio or The Trainline to get an overview as to where important node points are.
2. Choose one of the possible routes and mark node points or other places you might want to sleep over at and explore.
3. Now fill in the connections between your node points. It’s usually best to book directly with the national railway for each segment. That way you have complete control about stopover times (plan at least 1 hour) and you can get familiar with their discount systems. If you’re travelling in Europe, you might want to consider getting an Interrail-Ticket.
4. Enjoy your journey!
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