The Green Side of High Speed Rail My Top 5 environmental reasons to Switch to High Speed Rail It’s no surprise that switching from an auto-dependent society to a multi-modal system including a greater role for passenger trains is good for the environment. Here are my top 5 environmental reasons for implementing high speed rail in Canada. 1. Reduced Carbon Dioxide & Carbon Monoxide Emissions Atmospheric emissions contributing to the greenhouse gas effect would be reduced by the introduction of HSR. The 1995 join Federal/Ontario/Quebec government High Speed Rail Project sturdy states, “By the year 2025, annual emissions of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide related to inter city travel within the corridor would drop by 24% and 11% with the introduction of 300kph technology. “ In the USA, the 2006 High Speed Rail and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study by the U.S. Center for Clean Air Policy Center for Neighborhood Technology states,” To estimate high speed rail’s net emissions impact, we calculated the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions saved from passengers switching to high speed rail from other modes (air, conventional rail, automobile and bus) and subtracted the estimated emissions generated by high speed rail. Our calculations were based on passenger projections and diversion rates for each corridor and typical emissions rates for each mode of travel, including several different high speed rail technologies. Current projections show that passengers would take 112 million trips on high speed rail in the U.S. in 2025, traveling more than 25 billion passenger miles. This would result in 29 million fewer automobile trips and nearly 500,000 fewer flights. We calculated a total emissions savings of 6 billion pounds of CO2 per year (2.7 MMTCO2) if all proposed high speed rail systems studied for this project are built. Savings from cancelled automobile and airplane trips are the primary sources of the emissions savings; together these two modes make up 80 percent of the estimated emissions savings from all modes.” It is clear from the studies that there will be a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions if high speed rail was implemented. 2. Reduced Energy Consumption There is a need for humans to reduce their energy consumption and high speed rail is part of the solution. . The 1995 join Federal/Ontario/Quebec government High Speed Rail Study states, “ By the year 2025, annual energy consumption in the corridor associated 1

with the conventional multi mode scenario would be reduced by 20% in the case of 300km/h HSR.” According to the California High Speed Rail Authority, “Comparing the energy required to carry a passenger one kilometer, the high-speed trains needs only one-third that of an airplane and one-fifth of an automobile trip.” European High Speed Rail Graph Showing Carbon Dioxide & Carbon Monoxide Emissions and Energy Consumption Comparisons Train/Car/Aircraft.

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However it is important to understand that the benefits of HSR must be looked at from an overall life cycle of the project.  Life-cycle analysis looks at the whole cycle of producing a good or service, including energy and materials used in construction and maintenance as well as operation  HSR requires large construction outlays for tracks, bridges, and other elements. Up to 70% of CO2 emissions for HSR result from massive use of concrete and steel  By comparison, air travel uses more energy in operation but requires less infrastructure  With life-cycle analysis, HSR still looks better than air in terms of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

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3. Reduced Dependence on Petroleum (oil) Switching from air and auto travel will reduce our dependence on the usage petroleum (oil). The California High Speed Rail Authority estimates that “ The HSR line when built it projected to save 12.7 million barrels of oil per year by 2030, even with future improvements in auto fuel efficiency. Comparing the energy required to carry a passenger one kilometer, the high-speed trains needs only one-third that of an airplane and one-fifth of an automobile trip.” 4. Public Safety What if we watched the evening news and the newscast did not start out with another tragic story about lost lives relating to an automobile accident. High speed rail when implemented reduces the amount of autos on the road therefore there is a corresponding reduction in the number of accidents. According to the 1995 join Federal/Ontario/Quebec government High Speed Rail Study, “40% of high speed rider ship will be from former auto users.” It has been twenty-eight years since the TGV was launched in 1981. France currently has 1,500 kilometers of high speed railway lines, owned and a fleet of 400 high speed TGV trains, built by ALSTOM and owned by SNCF. The latter provides service with over 650 TGV trains every day. These trains carry over 900 million passengers a year. They have a 100% safety record in that no one has died as a result of a train crash. The safety record of high speed trains in France is excellent. 5. Reduced Land Use It is an excepted fact that high speed rail lines requires significantly less space to move a greater number of people then does the present highway systems. This would result in less wetland, forest and farm lands being wiped out. Here are the facts from a 2005 Alberta High Speed Rail Inc. study

Copyright - Paul Langan, High Speed Rail Canada, 2010 , www.highspeedrail.ca 4