Moving Green

Rail service, a vehicle for a green change.

Amtrak rail service is about more than providing energy-efficient transportation. It’s a mode of transportation that will help protect the environment, in ways big and small.

From programs aimed at allowing individual passengers to offset their carbon footprints to recycling, from environmental spill prevention to industrial housekeeping, from energy-efficient facilities to wildlife protection, Amtrak is committed to being part of the “generation that could,” in terms of making the necessary changes to protect our planet.

Freight rail transportation is one of the most energy efficient forms of surface transportation. Each freight train can move one ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel. It also helps control air emissions. If 10 percent of long-haul freight now moving by truck moved by rail, annual greenhouse gas emissions would fall by more than 12 million tons. American railroads move 40 percent of our nation's freight, but account for just 2.2 percent of all transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, and just 0.6 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Conservation

Rail travel is typically more energy efficient than car or air travel over the same distances. Intercity rail travel uses about 20 percent less energy measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) of energy per passenger mile than car or air travel.

Freight railroads are three times more fuel-efficient than trucks and emit three times less carbon dioxide (CO2) than trucks for the same transportation service. In 2003 alone, railroads increased their efficiency by consuming 2.8 billion fewer gallons of fuel in the United States — and emitted 31.5 million fewer tons of CO2 — than they would have if their efficiency had remained constant since 1980.

To learn more about freight rail service and its contributions towards energy conservation visit:

http://www.bnsf.com/media/bnsffacts.html or
http://www.csx.com/?fuseaction=about.environment

Amtrak is also taking measures to reduce the use of petroleum products, improving efficiency and reducing air emissions. By reducing the amount of “idling” time on diesel locomotives; using dynamic and regenerative braking systems to return energy to the grid on electric locomotives; employing bio-lubricants in hydraulic systems; and using lighter and more aerodynamic vehicle carriers on the Auto Train^®, Amtrak is moving toward a more sustainable transportation system.

Carbon Footprint

Amtrak is a charter member of the Chicago Climate Exchange. This organization uses a market based system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We’ve committed to reduce emissions from diesel locomotives by 6 percent from 2003 through 2010, the largest voluntary commitment in the United States. To date, Amtrak has exceeded all of the interim required reduction targets.

Amtrak's partnership with Carbonfund.org gives customers the opportunity to purchase carbon “offsets” for their travel on Amtrak, making it easy and affordable to reduce the carbon impact of their personal Amtrak trip to zero. The offsets provided through this partnership have three areas of investment focus: renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation. By choosing rail travel and offsetting emissions at Carbonfund.org, Amtrak customers can travel carbon-neutral.

Environmental Management

Amtrak's Environmental Policy expresses our commitment to improve environmental performance through operating procedures, facilities management, pollution prevention, communication and training. Examples of these efforts include:

• Recycling pilot programs for bottles, cans and newspapers on selected trains, in stations and in Amtrak facilities systemwide.
• Cleanup of historic railroad contamination. Some Amtrak sites have contamination that dates back to Amtrak’s predecessor railroads.
• Employee environmental awareness and regulatory training.
• An applied research program to mitigate train / bald eagle collisions and protect this species along the Hudson River in New York.

Video

The following video gives you an overview of Amtrak's commitment to becoming a true green rail system. We invite you to join us in our efforts to start Moving Green.