"High-speed rail travel is not a green option"

[michael blunck]

So what does this tell us? If the train becomes too slow, it won't be used. [...] But if people can save time when going by car, they'll probably do it. So trains have to be fast enough, to be used and therefore be "green".

Yes. The whole matter of "ecologically-friendly travel" is complicated. For sure, there are technical constraints (like the decisive amount of air drag at higher speeds), but there are even more "weak" constraints, which cannot be exactly figured out beforehand.

For those of you who speak German, there´s an interesting reply to the first DB´s "environmental report", released by the German newspaper FAZ: Noch eine unbequeme Wahrheit ("Another inconvenient truth")

In short: The DB had claimed energy consumption of the ICE-3 to be 2 litres petrol per person and 100km, but the article suggests that number to be pure fiction, ending with something more like 6 litres.

regards
Michael

[doktorhonig]

For those of you who speak German, there´s an interesting reply to the first DB´s "environmental report", released by the German newspaper FAZ: Noch eine unbequeme Wahrheit ("Another inconvenient truth")

For those who don't: Google translated version