Each year, Canada’s railways move 70 per cent of all intercity freight, while producing just 10 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
And only 3.8 per cent of the country’s transportation sector GHG emissions
Trains, on average, are three to four times more fuel-efficient than trucks.
Just one locomotive can haul a tonne of goods more than 220 kilometres on a single litre of fuel, while removing upwards of 300 trucks from our congested roads in the process.
SUSTAINABILITY
Freight railways can play a vital role in helping Canada to meet its international environmental commitments. Shifting just 10 per cent of freight from trucks to rail, for example, would reduce GHG emissions by around 4 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Our railway is continuously working to be even more sustainable. RAC and its members, including The Essex Terminal Railway Company, signed a memorandum of understanding with Transport Canada and Environment Canada in 1995, aimed at reducing locomotive emissions. As a result of that agreement, the Locomotive Emissions Monitoring (LEM) Program was started and through subsequent renewals of the MOU, continues to provide a platform for railways to manage GHGs and criteria air contaminants.
Since 2005, Canada’s freight railways have reduced their GHG emissions intensity – the rail sector’s carbon footprint relative to its traffic – by 25.9 percent.
Canadian railways continue to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure and have purchased new, more fuel-efficient, locomotives to comply with Canada’s Locomotive Emissions Regulations. They are committed to creating a transportation system that enhances the movement of goods and passengers, continually strengthens Canada’s economic wellbeing and competitiveness, and does so as sustainably as possible.
SOURCE: Railway Association of Canada
