Railroads for Sustainability: What Can We Do?
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.26.05
Reader Jason Sinclair asks us about trains and railroads. "It occurred to me today that we have a grossly underutilized and under-funded system of railroads in the U.S. and Canada, but that these railroads could be quite useful in a move towards sustainability. Railroads are much more efficient for moving goods than trucks and use quite a bit less fuel. Furthermore, I think they work on diesel fuel so they might work on bio-diesel. This may fly in the face of the "buying local" idea, but it may help to move things around in a more eco-friendly way. Can you folks dig up more information on this? Is there a way for us treehuggers to encourage more train use and for the railroad companies themselves to use bio-diesel (if they can)?" Continue reading for some ideas.
As with any big corporation and large country-spanning infrastructure, it's a bit hard to get railroad companies to change. But there are many indirect ways for you to encourage them. The best way is, of course, when a popular organized campaign makes demands and argues for a win-win new paradigm (ie. "If your companies does this, it will benefit that way and consumers/nature/etc will benefit that way...").
The most obvious way to encourage train-use is to take the train yourself whenever possible. If you sometimes travel relatively short-distances by plane, maybe you could convert those trips to train rides? If you live in a suburb, maybe there are light-trains that go into the city.
You could also write to your elected representatives (on various levels - city/state or province/federal) and ask for a better train infrastructure, suggesting that it would make their city/state or province/country more competitive, slow down road wear and accidents, help clean up the air, etc. That's where joining an organization and bunching up with many people can pay off. You could even try to make it a local electoral issue by writing to local newspapers before an election. But as with any political action, it can be very hard to get the attention of the right people, and since you probably aren't a lobbyist with lots of money to throw around, things will probably be frustrating. Our best bet right now is that rising oil prices will make the transportation of goods by truck more expensive and that trains will gain back some marketshare, leading to investments in the infrastructure and, indirectly, better service for commuters and travellers too.
Rising oil prices could also lead to the use of more biodiesel fuel. In that area, your options are also to write to railroad companies and suggest it, or to buy some of their stock and go to a shareholder meeting so that you can suggest it as a shareholder.
Austraila, Brazil, India are a few countries I could find that have biodiesel train systems running on fuel from local plant oils.
http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,53591,00.html
This is an OLD article from Wired about Sierra trains. They were running on biodiesel and using locomotives to produce a bunch of electricity to feed back into the grid.
Biodiesel has gotten cheaper, where as petro diesel prices continue to rise. Most diesel electric trains can run on pure biodiesel. It might be a good idea for the train companies to clean the tanks and injection systems before switching older trains over to biodiesel. Biodiesel is a solvent and tends to loosen up residues left by petrodiesel.
In colder climates, trains could either be fitted with fuel heaters or anti-gelling additives would need to be added to fuel.
I looked into using Amtrack to go home for vacations during school, but I need to be able to bring my dog with me because I can't afford to board him. Unfortunately, Amtrack does not allow pets on their trains. They cite other passengers' comfort as their reason, but they don't even have a separate cargo area for pets. Until I can take my dog with me on the train, I'll be flying or my parents will have to drive to get me and drive me back (two round trips in a car). So much for trying to be more environmentally friendly. How about trains get pet-friendly first?
I would love to take the train everywhere, I love trains, but the problem is it is just so much cheaper to go by bus or plane. I mean $30 on a Fung Wah bus beats $138 (cheapest I could figure) on Amtrack, round trip Boston to NY. It sucks, but unless they find some way to drop the prices I'm taking a bus.
One other thing though, trains are a good way to get big stuff across the country, my Aunt shipped a lot of stuff from Pennsylvania to Washington for much cheaper than going Uhaul.
http://www.bytrain.org/highspeed/
RailPower Technologies make a hybrid locomotive and switcher engine. Less fuel, less pollution, pretty cool.
Remember when railroads use to be the EVIL GIANT CORPORATION. and railroad barons use to step all over the little guy? Now they are tree huggers. Funny how times change
Railroads are not quite green yet, but they can be the lesser evil in many cases, and they can be made more eco-efficient than they have been in the past (and are now).
India is expirementing with Bio Diesel in locomotives but it is only being used in a 5-10% blend with normal Diesel. As far as I know, no locomotive has run on 100% Bio Diesel so far. Trials are being undertaken so far and it is possible that a 10% blend may be standardised soon depending on availability of Bio Fuel. Preparations for large scale production are on.
The biggest problem in the US is not anything else but the fact that Train travel is simply too expensive. While the government is spending billions to actually encourage road travel, it is doing nothing to encourage far more efficient rail travel. Amtrak service is pathetic and they have a bloated organisation which is one of the important factors in making the service expensive.
Amtrak hasn't been planning big and implementing it. Vested interests would prefer oil demand, and therefore prices, stay up (they get bigger margins) to a point where alternative methods of transport are just out of reach.
In India, travel by train is much, much cheaper than road. As a result, Indian Railways move 3 billion people a year in trains. Imagine what would happen if they shifted to the roads. The US ought to learn something from that. But I doubt it is going to happen.
Forget Biodiesel Trains. Heck this is America, the richest nation on earth. We should have bullet trains from NY to CA. Sure, the electricity might not be green, but those bullet trains are so smooth and fast. I rode on one in Europe and it was extremely enoyable. Plus I bet their more efficient than diesel trains.
Great post. This is extremely important. Trains have to replace trucks, as the major method of transport.
Trucks are enemy 1 through 5 for highway traffic congestion. Put it in a peak oil context... and trains are necessary for a softer landing.
Trains have a large surface area on top of them and on the sides too and often travel through great plains areas and specially cleared areas for the tracks with no trees. Not to mention alot of the time they are parked to load or whatever. If the tops of the trains cars could have solar panels and link together to produce electricity with the diesel electric trains you could imagine how much more efficient they could be and while they are parked they could be charging for the next haul or plugged into the grid somehow.
A few facts about rail in the US might be helpful in understanding why things are the way they are. First, cargo is at an all-time high. The rails themselves are clogged and engines are in such high demand it's not uncommon for one to be leased from another rail company. There is little more that can be asked of rail cargo.
Passenger rail is a different story. Each year the US taxpayers pump more and more money into this project. Each passenger costs more to move than the passenger pays for his ticket. Sustainability must include economics too.
And just to clear things up, trains can burn bio-diesel. It's the getting it that is difficult.