Why the train may not be the greenest way to travel across Canada

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This week:

After two years of restricted travel, many of us are planning summer vacations that involve visiting friends and family on the other side of our vast country.

Given what we know about the climate impact of air travel, some of you might be wondering if it's more responsible to spend the extra time and take the train.

That's what Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has given up flying, often does. Even the airline KLM encourages people to "fly responsibly," which means taking the train for shorter distances. 

Meanwhile, Canada's VIA Rail bills itself as "the most environmentally friendly mode of intercity transportation."

As it turns out, in Canada, the question of whether the train is really the greenest option depends on your starting point and your destination.

If you're travelling somewhere between Windsor, Ont. and Quebec City in the corridor that includes Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, then yes, the train is probably it, according to Ryan Katz-Rosene, a University of Ottawa professor who studies sustainable transportation.

But if you're heading from Montreal to Halifax or Toronto to Vancouver, the emissions per train trip might shock you. 

"The numbers are crazy. They're super high," said Katz-Rosene. 

He and his wife had taken the train across the country from Ottawa a couple of times, assuming it was the greener way to go.

But a few years ago, two VIA Rail passengers asked the Crown corporation for some information about their emissions. Seeing how high the numbers were, the passengers contacted Katz-Rosene, having seen his blog posts about travel emissions. Katz-Rosene used the numbers to do some comparisons and found the environmental winner for the Toronto-Vancouver route is actually … air travel.

Taking VIA's "Canadian" service from Toronto to Vancouver would generate 724 to 4,287 kilograms of CO2 per person. In comparison, an economy flight between those two cities would generate 464 to 767 kilograms of CO2 per person.

VIA's "Ocean" service between Montreal and Halifax generates 218 to 1,292 kilograms of CO2 per person, compared to 152 to 482 kilograms of CO2 per person for an economy flight.