How many people need to be on a train to make it more efficient than them driving in seperate cars?

Question

How many people would need to be on a train (including the driver if you like) to make it more efficient i.t.o of carbon emmisions than them driving in seperate cars over an arbitary length of say one or two hundred miles?

A similair comparison for a bus would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

a packed house will do it.

Answer 2

Using information from marketing material from Virgin Trains (UK company) for its Class 390 Virgin Pendolino trains, this is a modern electric train. I am using the data from a 296.5km from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.

It would appear that a car would emit 27.45kg (to get exact data for your car you should visit http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk - VCA Car Fuel Data this calculation would be based on a small car with engine under 1.4lt) of carbon dioxide.

A Class 390 Virgin Pendolino train would emit 1806kg of Co2 for the same journey. With 439 seats, with an average fill capacity of 51% or 224 people.

The train emissions should equal approximately 66 cars. So for each passenger driving in separate cars this would be 66. However the average for each car journey is 1.56 passengers, so the Virgin Pendolino would need to have a minimum of 103 passengers to ensure that it was more efficient than the equivalent car.

The only figure I could find for bus emissions was 23g/ppkm when a bus was full (from the Department for Transport Canada). Thus this would equate to 375kg of Co2 for a 55 seater bus. But on average each bus has 16 persons per km.

The bus emissions should equal approximately 14 cars. So for each passenger driving in separate cars this would be 14. Using the average for each car journey as 1.56 passengers, the bus would need to have a minimum of 22 passengers to ensure that it was more efficient than the equivalent cars.

Notes:

These figures only take into account the direct emissions from fuel consumption. There will be indirect Co2 emissions in developing the vehicle and its infrastructure which are not included.

The car used in this assumption is a small car with an engine size of 1.4lit or smaller. Less efficient cars would make the bus and train more efficient, and less efficient buses and trains would make the car more efficient.

I hope this information has been of help

Energy Saver

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Answer 3

The Intercity 125 from London to Reading was packed with folks--and a fine train and a fast train. Saves cars being all over the place.