Figures produced by DEFRA show that travelling by train to and from Beattock would cut the C02 emissions, currently given off by commuters vehicles, by a half to two thirds.
Carbon (CO2) gas emissions are one of the main causes of climate change and are predicted to raise the earth’s temperature by several degrees centigrade, over the next millennia. A major contributory factor in the daily emission of this gas worldwide, is through the use of fossil fuel for vehicle propulsion.
Ironically, the introduction of rail transport in the 19th Century caused environmental devastation, through coal fired emissions and sequestration of land. Now the race is on to use railways to help reduce CO2 gas emissions to zero.
CO2-Emissions – PDF Download
From the Beattock Station Action Group Survey of the local and visiting population, between 100-200 stated their intentions to commute from Beattock to mainly, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Carlisle. From other station re-opening surveys, for example, Larkhall, the number of actual commuters increases once the opportunity arises. Whilst a train gives off substantially more CO2 than a car, passengers numbers are much higher, per journey. Therefore travelling by train is equivalent to car sharing with one or two other people.
The official figures for car and train travel are, per person;
- 188.1g/km Medium diesel car travel
- 120g/km Hybrid electric/petrol car travel
- 60.2g/km Train travel
For one return trip to Glasgow, an individual’s transport gives off these amounts of CO2
- Medium diesel car = 33.848kg (33 packets of sugar equivalent)
- Train passenger = 10.8kg
100 commuter’s transport would give off 3384.8kg in a medium diesel car and 1080kg by train.
From the survey, over a 40 week/3 days a week 100 commuters transport to and from Glasgow would give off
- 406.176 Tonnes CO2 by car and 129.600 Tonnes by rail
These are very conservative numbers, the top end of the predicted commuting would be 2 or three times these figures. Beattock Station makes environmental sense.
The choice is ours.