Rail ticketing specialist Trainline has launched a new initiative to encourage more UK travellers to use trains to help meet the country’s net zero goals.
The company said that a 30 per cent increase in rail travel was needed in the UK by 2035 to help reach the 2050 net zero targets set by the UK Climate Change Committee.
Trainline said its recent I Came By Train consumer survey showed that while 58 per cent of UK residents had considered switching to rail travel for sustainability reasons, most people “under-appreciated” the impact they could make on their individual carbon footprints by switching modes of transport.
“The public mistakenly identify other sustainability measures like recycling, switching to renewable energy, and turning off light switches as more impactful,” said Trainline in a statement.
The company wants to encourage more travellers to choose the train through its Project 30% initiative, which aims to build a “campaigning coalition” of technology, rail, policy makers, NGOs and community groups to support a switch to rail travel.
Trainline said that if every traveller was “nudged” to take one 200-mile rail journey each year instead of driving or flying it would achieve one-third of the 2035 target.
Jody Ford, who is Trainline's CEO, said during a launch event in London: “Project 30% is a collective mission and its success is in our collective interest. The answer to achieving this goal lies in collective action.
“Together we can help close the existing gap between the emissions cuts required and existing policy ambitions, by enabling and reinforcing positive behavioural change in the way people travel.
“How do we get 30 per cent more business travellers to take the train? How do we get 30 per cent more sports fans, festival goers and shoppers to take the train?”
Trainline's survey of 2,500 people also found that the impact of recent rail strikes and inflation had reduced UK travellers’ desire to take the train. While two-thirds of respondents said they wanted to make “greener choices” but felt less able to do so than they did a year ago.
This research follows a separate report released last week by the Rail Delivery Group showing that travelling by train on the UK's top 100 business routes is almost nine times 'greener' than making the journey by car.