• lentildrop@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 days ago

    If you read the article it literally only applies to a cross-country, 2,000 mile train trip. The vast majority of people who take Amtrak do so for much, much shorter distances (they even say so in the article, 300-400 miles) where even a diesel train is easily the lowest carbon footprint option.

    • nforminvasion@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      Completely fair. I am not advocating for planes instead, I want good trains so bad. But even from Chicagoland (home) to Massachusetts, where my family lives, is so expensive and slow, and I believe passes over the distance where it becomes more polluting. Climate Town has a video about Amtrak where he mentions that a journey from Chicago to Boston is unfortunately more dirty than a flight of that distance.

      I have an EV that I drive the trip in, which is cheaper than flying (even before the Iran War). I know I’m still contributing micro plastics through tire wear, so it’s not a 0 impact trip of course. But if I could do high speed, electrified trains for that trip, I absolutely would.