Travelling by train on Britain\u2019s busiest business routes generates less than half the carbon emissions of a battery electric car, according to detailed analysis from the rail industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certain journeys on the greenest, fullest electric trains produce as little as one-fifteenth of the CO2 <\/sub>per person compared with the footprint of a sole occupancy petrol or diesel car, the data shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) claimed the data is the industry\u2019s most accurate and granular yet, incorporating train types and occupancy, and said it hopes it will allow businesses to make the greenest travel choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, campaigners pointed out that fares on some of the comparatively greenest rail routes were not cheaper than cars, and the cost of rail travel needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The RDG said that on average across the top 100 business travel routes, using a diesel or petrol car produced nine times more carbon than going by train. The figure was four times more polluting than a train if driving a plug-in hybrid electric car, or almost two-and-a-half times more if using a battery electric car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The comparison uses the government\u2019s official figures for average executive car emissions by distance. Battery EV emissions largely depend on the source of electricity<\/a>, and should decrease with the uptake of renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross would emit 116kg of CO2<\/sub> in a diesel car, 31.8kg in a battery car and 12.7kg per person by train, according to the RDG data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n