Green Travel Pledge
What is the Green Travel Pledge?
Green Travel Pledge is the rail industry’s commitment to provide detailed, accurate and reliable data on the carbon emissions of rail journeys so that:
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The sustainability benefits of travelling by train become clearer and even more compelling;
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Businesses and their travellers are empowered to make more informed choices;
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The business travel sector can make data on rail journey emissions easier to access and use at the point of sale;
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Businesses can accurately measure the emissions of their rail travel to track their progress against sustainability goals.
The pledge will help encourage businesses to modal shift away from car and plane to stimulate additional business journeys by train.
Green Travel Pledge is a rail industry initiative being led by the Rail Delivery Group to create a recognised industry benchmark for carbon emissions.
Supporting modal shift to rail for business travellers
We are currently developing a new rail carbon calculator which will provide detailed, accurate and reliable data on the carbon emissions of rail journeys at the point of sale.
This new tool will allow businesses and business travellers the ability to easily demonstrate the green credentials of switching to rail travel from less environmentally-friendly alternatives such as car and plane travel.
Our first phase release shown below provides detailed, accurate and reliable per passenger carbon emission data for some of the top station-to-station rail business routes across Britain, and compare the results against car travel.
If you're a business, travel management company or online booking tool provider who would like access to this data once released, please contact
"The Green Travel Pledge is being developed in partnership with industry experts and the wider business travel community to allow us to independently demonstrate the environmental credentials of rail travel."
Jacqueline Starr,
CEO at the Rail Delivery Group
Train vs plane: carbon emission comparison for four domestic business travel routes
We have compared per passenger emission data from rail business routes in Britain with the equivalent per passenger emission data for the same trip by plane (via Thrust Carbon’s airline emission calculator, using Government Conversion Factors for Greenhouse Gas Reporting).
It shows that rail is up to 17 times greener than flying for business travel in Britain.
You can see more about our comparisons between domestic train and plane travel in our latest report Clearing the Air: Train vs Plane.
Top Business Route Data - Phase 1 release
Provisional Green Travel Pledge carbon data shows that you can substantially decrease emissions if you switch from car to train for business travel across Britain.
Taking the train on the top 100 business routes in Britain is
- Almost nine times greener than using a petrol/diesel car
- More than four times greener than using a plug-in hybrid electric car
- Almost two-and-a-half times greener than using a battery electric car
This is the first time the rail industry has combined granular data on train occupancy, fuel type, exact journey distance and many other factors to create detailed, accurate and reliable carbon emission data for rail business travel.
Top 100 Business Routes League Tables
The below table is our phase 1 release of the top 100 business routes across the UK, and top 20 in each region, showcasing the accurate journey average emissions (KGCO2e) per train journey and compares these against different car types.
The highlighted column shows how much greener rail travel is compared to making the journey by a petrol or diesel car i.e. taking to train from Haymarket to London Kings Cross is 19.85 times greener than travelling by a diesel or petrol car.
The full Phase 1 dataset is available exclusively on the Rail Data Marketplace (RDM). Please register through RDM (if your organisation is not already registered) and request access to the Green Travel Pledge data set by following the RDM Instructions Guide.
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Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsHaymarket Haymarket
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross119.0857.9432.64619.85London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
York York58.9928.716.173.915.13Darlington Darlington
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross70.6834.3919.384.7514.88Grantham Grantham
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross32.1415.648.812.2314.41Ebbsfleet International Ebbsfleet International
St Pancras International St Pancras International7.313.5520.5214.05London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Newcastle Newcastle80.7339.2822.135.9813.5London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Wakefield Westgate Wakefield Westgate53.5126.0414.673.9813.45Leeds Leeds
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross56.2527.3715.424.2313.3Doncaster Doncaster
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross47.6723.1913.073.5913.28Ipswich Ipswich
London Liverpool Street London Liverpool Street23.9311.646.561.8612.86Edinburgh Edinburgh
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross115.9856.4331.799.1212.72Hove Hove
London Bridge London Bridge21.5510.495.911.7912.04Basingstoke Basingstoke
London Waterloo London Waterloo15.67.594.281.3511.55Newcastle Newcastle
York York24.66126.762.1611.42Ashford International Ashford International
St Pancras International St Pancras International16.88.184.611.5111.13London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Peterborough Peterborough24.66126.762.2311.06Haymarket Haymarket
Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Oxford Road64.6631.4617.725.8611.03Haymarket Haymarket
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly64.6631.4617.725.8811Peterborough Peterborough
York York4019.4610.963.6610.93Edinburgh Edinburgh
Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Oxford Road64.1131.1917.575.910.87Haymarket Haymarket
Newcastle Newcastle34.5216.799.463.1810.86Edinburgh Edinburgh
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly64.1131.1917.575.9310.81Kettering Kettering
St Pancras International St Pancras International23.7411.556.512.2910.37London Waterloo London Waterloo
Southampton Airport Parkwy Southampton Airport Parkwy22.6511.026.212.2210.2London Paddington London Paddington
Reading West Reading West12.265.963.361.2110.13London Waterloo London Waterloo
Southampton Central Southampton Central23.211.296.362.439.55London Liverpool Street London Liverpool Street
Norwich Norwich33.6116.359.213.549.49Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Blackfriars London Blackfriars14.857.224.071.589.4Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Bridge London Bridge13.176.413.611.429.27London Euston London Euston
Warrington Bank Quay Warrington Bank Quay56.2527.3715.426.079.27London Euston London Euston
Preston Preston64.8431.5517.7779.26London Euston London Euston
Wigan North Western Wigan North Western59.5428.9716.326.479.2Bournemouth Bournemouth
London Waterloo London Waterloo31.7815.468.713.499.11Didcot Parkway Didcot Parkway
London Paddington London Paddington16.027.794.391.769.1Bristol Parkway Bristol Parkway
London Paddington London Paddington33.6116.359.213.79.08Crewe Crewe
London Euston London Euston49.524.0813.575.459.08London Euston London Euston
Stafford Stafford41.2820.0811.314.559.07London Euston London Euston
Tamworth Tamworth34.716.889.513.849.04Lichfield Trent Valley Lichfield Trent Valley
London Euston London Euston36.1617.599.914.068.91Durham Durham
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross76.8937.4121.088.648.9London Waterloo London Waterloo
Winchester Winchester19.739.65.412.228.89London Paddington London Paddington
Newport (South Wales) Newport (South Wales)40.1819.5511.014.568.81Cardiff Central Cardiff Central
London Paddington London Paddington44.5621.6812.225.068.81London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Stevenage Stevenage9.244.52.531.068.72London Euston London Euston
Runcorn Runcorn58.4528.4416.026.88.59Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central44.9321.8612.325.278.53London Euston London Euston
Stoke-On-Trent Stoke-On-Trent46.3922.5712.725.458.51London Euston London Euston
Stockport Stockport57.928.1715.876.878.43Hove Hove
London Victoria London Victoria15.477.534.241.858.36London Euston London Euston
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly58.6328.5216.077.138.22London Euston London Euston
Macclesfield Macclesfield50.7724.713.926.238.15Edinburgh Edinburgh
Newcastle Newcastle30.8715.028.463.828.08Exeter St Davids Exeter St Davids
London Paddington London Paddington51.1424.8814.026.338.08Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
Rugby Rugby10.345.032.831.37.95London Paddington London Paddington
Plymouth Plymouth63.3830.8417.378.157.78London Euston London Euston
Wilmslow Wilmslow54.6126.5714.977.087.71Bristol Parkway Bristol Parkway
Cardiff Central Cardiff Central11.85.743.231.537.71Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
London Euston London Euston116.5356.6931.9415.127.71London Waterloo London Waterloo
Swaythling Swaythling22.8311.116.262.987.66Birmingham International Birmingham International
London Euston London Euston32.5115.828.914.287.6East Croydon East Croydon
London Victoria London Victoria3.091.50.850.417.53Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
London Euston London Euston34.3416.719.414.587.5Harrogate Harrogate
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross59.3628.8816.277.927.49London Euston London Euston
Rugby Rugby24.66126.763.327.43London Euston London Euston
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central15.87.694.332.137.42Brighton Brighton
St Pancras International St Pancras International19.549.515.362.647.4London Paddington London Paddington
Swindon Swindon23.7411.556.513.237.35Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central21.3710.45.862.927.32Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross116.7156.7831.9916.147.23Coventry Coventry
London Euston London Euston27.9413.67.663.877.22Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Victoria London Victoria8.2242.251.147.21London Euston London Euston
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton37.9918.4810.415.327.14Brighton Brighton
London Bridge London Bridge15.947.764.372.267.06Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
Stoke-On-Trent Stoke-On-Trent13.686.663.751.996.87Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street
Haymarket Haymarket13.196.423.611.926.87Farnborough (Main) Farnborough (Main)
London Waterloo London Waterloo10.635.172.911.586.73London Waterloo London Waterloo
Woking Woking8.183.982.241.236.65Haymarket Haymarket
London Euston London Euston118.7257.7632.5418.316.48Guildford Guildford
London Waterloo London Waterloo9.394.572.571.466.43Edinburgh Edinburgh
Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street13.646.643.742.136.41Brighton Brighton
London Blackfriars London Blackfriars15.947.764.372.56.38Edinburgh Edinburgh
London Euston London Euston115.9856.4331.7918.396.31Bicester North Bicester North
London Marylebone London Marylebone17.758.644.872.846.25Hatton Hatton
London Marylebone London Marylebone28.4913.867.814.566.25Brighton Brighton
City Thameslink City Thameslink15.937.754.372.556.25London Euston London Euston
Northampton Northampton19.369.425.313.136.19Byfleet & New Haw Byfleet & New Haw
London Waterloo London Waterloo7.163.481.961.166.17London Waterloo London Waterloo
Reading Reading12.356.013.382.016.14Ashford International Ashford International
London Cannon Street London Cannon Street17.318.424.752.846.1East Croydon East Croydon
London Blackfriars London Blackfriars3.321.620.910.556.04Fratton Fratton
London Waterloo London Waterloo22.2810.846.113.696.04London Waterloo London Waterloo
St Denys St Denys23.211.296.363.935.9High Wycombe High Wycombe
London Marylebone London Marylebone8.774.272.41.495.88London Waterloo London Waterloo
Portsmouth & Southsea Portsmouth & Southsea22.110.756.063.765.88Banbury Banbury
London Marylebone London Marylebone22.110.756.063.795.83London Waterloo London Waterloo
Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour22.110.756.063.795.83Byfleet & New Haw Byfleet & New Haw
Vauxhall Vauxhall6.743.281.851.165.81Leamington Spa Leamington Spa
London Marylebone London Marylebone27.2113.247.464.695.8London Marylebone London Marylebone
Warwick Parkway Warwick Parkway27.7613.517.614.875.7Devonport Devonport
London Paddington London Paddington64.2931.2817.6211.315.68 -
Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsHaymarket Haymarket
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross119.0857.9432.64619.85London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
York York58.9928.716.173.915.13Darlington Darlington
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross70.6834.3919.384.7514.88Grantham Grantham
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross32.1415.648.812.2314.41Ebbsfleet International Ebbsfleet International
St Pancras International St Pancras International7.313.5520.5214.05London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Newcastle Newcastle80.7339.2822.135.9813.5London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Wakefield Westgate Wakefield Westgate53.5126.0414.673.9813.45Leeds Leeds
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross56.2527.3715.424.2313.3Doncaster Doncaster
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross47.6723.1913.073.5913.28Ipswich Ipswich
London Liverpool Street London Liverpool Street23.9311.646.561.8612.86Edinburgh Edinburgh
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross115.9856.4331.799.1212.72Newcastle Newcastle
York York24.66126.762.1611.42Ashford International Ashford International
St Pancras International St Pancras International16.88.184.611.5111.13London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Peterborough Peterborough24.66126.762.2311.06Peterborough Peterborough
York York4019.4610.963.6610.93Haymarket Haymarket
Newcastle Newcastle34.5216.799.463.1810.86Kettering Kettering
St Pancras International St Pancras International23.7411.556.512.2910.37London Liverpool Street London Liverpool Street
Norwich Norwich33.6116.359.213.549.49Durham Durham
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross76.8937.4121.088.648.9London Kings Cross London Kings Cross
Stevenage Stevenage9.244.52.531.068.72 -
Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsHaymarket Haymarket
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross119.0857.9432.64619.85Edinburgh Edinburgh
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross115.9856.4331.799.1212.72Haymarket Haymarket
Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Oxford Road64.6631.4617.725.8611.03Haymarket Haymarket
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly64.6631.4617.725.8811.00Edinburgh Edinburgh
Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Oxford Road64.1131.1917.575.910.87Haymarket Haymarket
Newcastle Newcastle34.5216.799.463.1810.86Edinburgh Edinburgh
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly64.1131.1917.575.9310.81Edinburgh Edinburgh
Newcastle Newcastle30.8715.028.463.828.08Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
London Euston London Euston116.5356.6931.9415.127.71Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
London Kings Cross London Kings Cross116.7156.7831.9916.147.23Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street
Haymarket Haymarket13.196.423.611.926.87Haymarket Haymarket
London Euston London Euston118.7257.7632.5418.316.48Edinburgh Edinburgh
Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street13.646.643.742.136.41Edinburgh Edinburgh
London Euston London Euston115.9856.4331.7918.396.31Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Oxford Road63.5630.9217.4211.635.47Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly63.7431.0117.4713.014.90Edinburgh Park Edinburgh Park
Glasgow Queen Street Glasgow Queen Street11.785.733.232.724.33Edinburgh Edinburgh
Glasgow Central Glasgow Central14.106.863.875.142.74Glasgow Central Glasgow Central
Haymarket Haymarket13.686.663.755.152.66Edinburgh Edinburgh
Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria63.7431.0117.4727.362.33 -
Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsLondon Euston London Euston
Warrington Bank Quay Warrington Bank Quay56.2527.3715.426.079.27London Euston London Euston
Preston Preston64.8431.5517.7779.26London Euston London Euston
Wigan North Western Wigan North Western59.5428.9716.326.479.2Crewe Crewe
London Euston London Euston49.524.0813.575.459.08London Euston London Euston
Stafford Stafford41.2820.0811.314.559.07London Euston London Euston
Tamworth Tamworth34.716.889.513.849.04Lichfield Trent Valley Lichfield Trent Valley
London Euston London Euston36.1617.599.914.068.91London Euston London Euston
Runcorn Runcorn58.4528.4416.026.88.59Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central44.9321.8612.325.278.53London Euston London Euston
Stoke-On-Trent Stoke-On-Trent46.3922.5712.725.458.51London Euston London Euston
Stockport Stockport57.928.1715.876.878.43London Euston London Euston
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly58.6328.5216.077.138.22London Euston London Euston
Macclesfield Macclesfield50.7724.713.926.238.15Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
Rugby Rugby10.345.032.831.37.95London Euston London Euston
Wilmslow Wilmslow54.6126.5714.977.087.71Birmingham International Birmingham International
London Euston London Euston32.5115.828.914.287.6Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
London Euston London Euston34.3416.719.414.587.5London Euston London Euston
Rugby Rugby24.66126.763.327.43London Euston London Euston
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central15.87.694.332.137.42Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street
Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes Central21.3710.45.862.927.32 -
Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsEbbsfleet International Ebbsfleet International
St Pancras International St Pancras International7.313.5520.5214.05Hove Hove
London Bridge London Bridge21.5510.495.911.7912.04Basingstoke Basingstoke
London Waterloo London Waterloo15.67.594.281.3511.55Ashford International Ashford International
St Pancras International St Pancras International16.88.184.611.5111.13London Waterloo London Waterloo
Southampton Airport Parkwy Southampton Airport Parkwy22.6511.026.212.2210.2London Waterloo London Waterloo
Southampton Central Southampton Central23.211.296.362.439.55Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Blackfriars London Blackfriars14.857.224.071.589.4Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Bridge London Bridge13.176.413.611.429.27Bournemouth Bournemouth
London Waterloo London Waterloo31.7815.468.713.499.11London Waterloo London Waterloo
Winchester Winchester19.739.65.412.228.89Hove Hove
London Victoria London Victoria15.477.534.241.858.36London Waterloo London Waterloo
Swaythling Swaythling22.8311.116.262.987.66East Croydon East Croydon
London Victoria London Victoria3.091.50.850.417.53Brighton Brighton
St Pancras International St Pancras International19.549.515.362.647.4Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport
London Victoria London Victoria8.2242.251.147.21Brighton Brighton
London Bridge London Bridge15.947.764.372.267.06Farnborough (Main) Farnborough (Main)
London Waterloo London Waterloo10.635.172.911.586.73London Waterloo London Waterloo
Woking Woking8.183.982.241.236.65Guildford Guildford
London Waterloo London Waterloo9.394.572.571.466.43Brighton Brighton
London Blackfriars London Blackfriars15.947.764.372.56.38 -
Route
Petrol /
diesel car
Plug-in Hybrid
Electric car
Battery
Electric car
Rail per
passengerNumber of times
difference between
rail and petrol/diesel
car emissionsLondon Paddington London Paddington
Reading West Reading West12.265.963.361.2110.13Didcot Parkway Didcot Parkway
London Paddington London Paddington16.027.794.391.769.1Bristol Parkway Bristol Parkway
London Paddington London Paddington33.6116.359.213.79.08London Paddington London Paddington
Newport (South Wales) Newport (South Wales)40.1819.5511.014.568.81Cardiff Central Cardiff Central
London Paddington London Paddington44.5621.6812.225.068.81Exeter St Davids Exeter St Davids
London Paddington London Paddington51.1424.8814.026.338.08London Paddington London Paddington
Plymouth Plymouth63.3830.8417.378.157.78Bristol Parkway Bristol Parkway
Cardiff Central Cardiff Central11.85.743.231.537.71London Paddington London Paddington
Swindon Swindon23.7411.556.513.237.35London Waterloo London Waterloo
Reading Reading12.356.013.382.016.14Devonport Devonport
London Paddington London Paddington64.2931.2817.6211.315.68Bath Spa Bath Spa
London Paddington London Paddington33.6116.359.216.165.46London Paddington London Paddington
Reading Reading11.935.83.272.195.45Chippenham Chippenham
London Paddington London Paddington29.0414.137.965.425.36Banbury Banbury
London Paddington London Paddington21.9210.666.014.125.32Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads
London Paddington London Paddington34.716.889.517.144.86Exeter Central Exeter Central
London Waterloo London Waterloo51.525.0614.1210.634.85Exeter St Davids Exeter St Davids
London Waterloo London Waterloo51.8725.2414.2210.714.84Gloucester Gloucester
London Paddington London Paddington29.2214.228.016.084.81London Paddington London Paddington
Oxford Oxford16.778.164.63.514.78
Initial calculations
In June 2023 the initial data looked at one specific route, London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, which showed rail travel emits 10 times less carbon than car travel.
Learn more
Read about how carbon emissions expertise from Thrust Carbon and rail data experience from 3Squared are being combined to develop reliable and accurate carbon emission figures.
Latest news
See the latest news about the Green Travel Pledge and other rail industry initiatives being led by the Rail Delivery Group.
Frequently asked questions
We want to have an open and honest conversation about the carbon footprint of business travel in Britain.
To support that, we've compiled some questions and answers you may have about Green Travel Pledge. We'll look to expand on these as we move closer to releasing carbon emission data for rail journeys across Britain.
To view each answer, just click the + icon next to the question.
Questions about the Green Travel Pledge project
If you're a business, travel management company or online booking tool provider who would like access to this data once released, please contact
Green Travel Pledge is the rail industry’s commitment to provide detailed, accurate and reliable data on the carbon emissions of rail journeys so that:
- The sustainability benefits of travelling by train become clearer and even more compelling;
- Businesses and their travellers are empowered to make more informed choices;
- The business travel sector can make data on rail journey emissions easier to access and use at the point of sale;
- Businesses can accurately measure the emissions of their rail travel to track their progress against sustainability goals.
The pledge will help encourage businesses to modal shift away from car and plane travel to stimulate additional business journeys by train.
It is a rail industry initiative being led by the Rail Delivery Group, in partnership with Great British Railways Transition Team, creating a recognised industry benchmark for carbon emissions.
We are currently developing a new rail carbon calculator which will provide detailed, accurate and reliable data on the carbon emissions of rail journeys to businesses at the point of sale.
This new tool will allow businesses and business travellers to easily demonstrate the green credentials of switching to rail travel from less environmentally-friendly alternatives such as car and plane travel.
If you're a business, travel management company or online booking tool provider who would like access to this data once released, please contact
Currently, we are developing this as a product for businesses, travel management companies and online booking tools.
Therefore, the results will be available via an open API which will then be displayed to business travel customers at the point of sale.
We hope that by showing a reliable and accurate carbon footprint for rail, we can encourage business travellers to switch from less environmentally-friendly alternatives such as car and plane travel.
We are gradually rolling out carbon calculations for rail routes across Britain. We started with provisional figures from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley as this is a popular route with business travellers and gave an opportunity to compare long distance train, plane and car travel.
We are now focusing on calculating carbon emissions for the top long-distance rail business travel routes. In 2024 we plan to finalise data for all point-to-point rail business routes across Britain.
We want to help encourage businesses to modal shift away from car and plane travel to stimulate additional business journeys by train.
Please contact us at
Questions about the methodology behind the carbon emission calculations
The calculation is per passenger. This takes into account occupancy data to provide a reliable figure for how many people will be using each route.
We are working with carbon emission experts at Thrust Carbon and rail data specialists at Fabrik to compile rail data and use it to accurately calculate rail emissions for all point-to-point rail journeys in Britain.
Data used includes: engine type, fuel type, journey distance, number of carriages, travel class, occupancy and timetable.
To find out more technical detail on how we calculated our preliminary carbon calculations for a journey from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, please read Thrust Carbon's blog.
.
Current emission measures, such as the one maintained by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (still colloquially known as the ‘Defra methodology’), offer a general average emission figure for all customers on rail services in Britain. However, they do not differentiate between various factors including: different classes of travel, load factor, or electric vs diesel power units.
The ’Defra methodology’ calculates a single emission factor for the average passenger per kilometre, which, while useful for high-level comparisons, does not accurately reflect the emissions associated with individual passengers on specific journeys.
Our Green Travel Pledge methodology fills this gap, offering a more granular and nuanced understanding of rail emissions. It considers the specific characteristics of different rail routes, and allocates emissions to individual passengers based on the following (not exhaustive): number of carriages dedicated to each class, the average load factor for each class, and the volume of trains run on each route.
This approach can provide a more accurate measure of the emissions associated with individual passengers, and can serve as a powerful tool in enabling more accurate reporting on rail emissions for businesses, whilst also shaping strategies for emission reduction in the rail sector.
Our carbon calculations for rail take into account: engine type, fuel type, journey distance, number of carriages, travel class, occupancy and timetable.
No, there are many different methods for calculating carbon emissions for train journeys.
We believe it’s important that the rail industry works from one reliable, accurate and consistent measurement of carbon emissions. That is why we are using granular data to make Green Travel Pledge carbon emission data as reliable as possible.
We plan to roll it out to businesses, online booking tools and travel management companies throughout 2024.
Currently we are only looking at direct journeys i.e. those with no changes. Where more than one train operator runs trains on that route, the data for each will be used to calculate the final figure.
However, in future we plan to include indirect journeys (those with changes), allowing rail users to ‘add up’ their emissions for multiple legs of a journey.
Our methodology uses the number of carriages and number of passengers between any two station stops on a journey and aggregates these. As such, any joining or splitting of trains would be factored into the overall emission calculations for the route as this would alter the number of carriages and passenger load.
Our methodology takes into account the type of train – electric or diesel – operating on specific routes. This allows us to estimate emissions accordingly. Where trains change from electric to diesel (and vice versa) en route, we will take this into account.
At this stage, we will not be factoring in ‘one-off’ train cancellations. We will only factor in changes if they substantially impact the rail timetable.
For these journeys, we are able to identify the emissions for each part of the journey, and as such can calculate the emissions for the entire route, even if the route is partially electric and partially diesel.
Timetables typically change every six months in the rail industry. Our figures and methodology will be updated to reflect any changes made in the timetable to train routes or volumes.
We'll be exploring methods to incorporate cost measurements into our data (including potential visualisation in £/$/€ per head/household) in the future.
Questions about how to use carbon emissions calculation data
Questions about the top business route release (Phase 1)
This isn’t currently available as part of Green Travel Pledge data.
Green Travel Pledge identifies the direct services between the two station and works out the emission value for each service (per km emission value for the booked train type x the distance).
From this, we calculate average emissions of trains on the route, which is divided by the average passenger load.
Green Travel Pledge has used the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion factors and the Business Travel by land - Unknown category for car emissions, which covers diesel and petrol cars.
Green Travel Pledge has used the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion factors for car emissions which covers battery electric cars.
This energy value is then turned into an emission figure by mapping to the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion factors.
This energy value is turned into an emission figure by mapping to the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion factors.
These routes were chosen to align with our ‘Clearing the Air: Train vs Plane’ report comparing train and airline travel on a number of different factors.
To provide the fairest comparison with domestic airline travel, we have used Thrust Carbon’s ‘Thrust Shop’ carbon calculator for emissions, which is based off the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion factors (GGH).
The reason for the difference between June 2023 and April 2024 airline data for a trip between London and Edinburgh is because we previously used just the GGH data. This time we have used Thrust Carbon’s ‘Thrust Shop’ calculations, which are slightly lower as they have been amended to take into account other factors, such as removing prop planes which would not be used for business travel on this route.
Standard as Business Class and First Class are not often available on domestic flights in the UK.
Green Travel Pledge per passenger emission figures take into account a lot more than just the distance of the journey.
The type of train (and fuel it uses), the number of carriages that make up the train and the amount of customers on the train (especially off-peak services that may be quieter at certain times of the day) can heavily impact the overall per passenger emission figure on each route.
Green Travel Pledge data currently covers Monday to Friday business travel, not all rail travel. We are looking at expanding this to take into account seven days a week travel in future phases.
This would ensure Green Travel Pledge would be more relevant for public-facing campaigns, which include leisure travel, such as those mentioned above.
Not at this stage as we have focused purely on the rail journey emissions.
We use rail industry demand modelling software to predict which train each passenger is likely to travel on. This model is built up from trends dating back over a decade applied to current passenger levels. From this model we are able to build up a comprehensive view of how many people travel on each train and therefore each route on a typical day.
Energy values per kilometre are derived for electric trains from Network Rail EC4T data.
Green Travel Pledge uses MOIRA modelled data to derive the loading for each direct service between any two station pairs. From this we can work out the passenger mileage between those two points and from that the average loading value for all services. This data is currently derived from the May 2023 timetable. Future data publications will be updated to reflect the forecast for the latest timetable. Please refer back to Green Travel Pledge website, for any updates.
No, Phase 1 data for the top rail business routes in Britain is still preliminary data and will continue to be improved upon as we seek richer and more granular travel data from within the industry.
In summer 2024, we plan to release Phase 2 which will use updated timetable information to create a newer and even more accurate data set.
Yes the figures take into account travel in either direction.
Car emissions were sourced from the Government's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023, using the "Business Travel - land" data set, specifically the ‘Executive car’ kgCO2e per km figure - which is business travel in other vehicles (e.g. employee own car for business use, hire car, public transport (Scope 3)).
We calculated each route by measuring the shortest car route distance between the origin and destination station using Google Maps. This KM distance is then multiplied by the Government Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Conversion Factors for Business Travel ("Business Travel - Land" - Car - Executive KM – “Unknown”). This provides us with a figure for single occupancy drivers using a petrol/diesel car for business.
Passenger forecasted data is used for the Green Travel Pledge, which includes first class data captured at the point of sale.
First class ticket upgrades, whether through an external auction site, operators own upgrade pre departure site, walk up upgrades, on board upgrades are not included.
Permanent declassification - where a number of train operators under instruction from the Department for Transport have withdrawn First Class from their services, will be included if it is a moment of time that the data covers.
Due to high passenger loads on certain routes and certain journeys, operators will make the decision to declassify to make seat space for passengers and therefore this data is not captured within Green Travel Pledge.
Yes, as the data used includes passenger load, this will include any passengers on the train.
We currently only use data for Monday to Friday travel, as this is typically when business travel on British trains takes place. We are considering expanding our data sources to include weekend travel in future.
At this stage of the Phase 1 launch (February 2024), the project is publishing average forecasted data only. This approach is continuously under review, as we look to improve the granularity of available data.
At this stage, we are providing an average figure to allow for a comparison with the average rail / car emission figure currently used by Government. In future, we aim to release distinct emission totals for First Class and Standard Class journeys for all direct business routes in Britain, but this requires some additional information to ensure it takes into account First Class travel via third party upgrades, on the train upgrades and other routes.
At this stage Rail Replacement Buses are not included within the Green Travel Pledge data. As the data is forecasted rail. This will be reviewed for future phases.
If a ticket is purchased for travel or a seat booking is made, then this would count towards the occupancy figures we use to calculate the per passenger emissions. There are some cases in which a line pass or on the day upgrade is purchased, which may mean that we do not take into account certain journeys.
Catering on the train is not included in this phase of the initiative but will be considered in planning future phases.
How staff get to the station to support the running of the train is not included in this phase of the initiative but will be considered in planning future phases.
We consider Standard Premium as Standard travel for the purposes of calculating rail emissions.
At Phase 1, we have received data from the vast majority of train operators, including train operators running services on all of the top 100 business routes.