Eco-Aviation Channel

Report casts doubt on green claims of new UK high-speed rail link

By Geoffrey Thomas
Eco-Aviation Today, September 2009, p.3

A UK government-commissioned report questions the green credentials of high-speed rail by claiming that the proposed new 300-kph (185 mph) London-Manchester train could be less environmentally friendly than the same air route. According to the Daily Telegraph, the study by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton argues that building and operating the rail network will generate more CO2 than taking the same route by air over a 60-year period.

The report, "Estimated Carbon Impact of a New North-South Line," says domestic air service could be the greener option for travel from the capital to Manchester. "There is no potential carbon benefit in building a new line on the London to Manchester route over the 60-year appraisal period. In essence, the additional carbon emitted by building and operating a new rail route is larger than the entire quantity of carbon emitted by the air services," it states.

However, the report also says that a high-speed route from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh will achieve a net carbon saving, and therefore justify itself in environmental terms, if it wins a 62% market share against airlines. Currently, rail controls just 15% of the rail/air market between London and Scotland and has greater potential to win passengers from airlines.

A Dept. for Transport spokesperson said the report, completed in 2007 but only published this year, admitted to using a "simplistic model" and had not factored in the possibility of winning market share from car drivers. High Speed Two, the company established to draw up plans for a north-south link, will submit its own report, including an environmental study, at year end.

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