Swiss rail to run solely on renewable electricity from 2025
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Swiss rail to run solely on renewable electricity from 2025
From January 1, 2025, Swiss Federal Railway trains will run exclusively on electricity from renewable sources, mainly generated by hydropower.
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The remaining renewable electricity will be procured on the market from Switzerland and the rest of Europe.
+ Portrait of a climate neutral country
Renewable power currents will be certified with guarantees of origin from 2025, it was announced on Tuesday. To date, around 90% of traction current has been generated from hydropower. The remaining 10% came from nuclear power.
Swiss Railways will no longer use this electricity for rail operations, but will sell it on the electricity market.
The switch to 100% renewable traction current is part of company’s sustainability strategy. The aim is to make a contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement and halve operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Swiss Railways aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 90% by 2040. In addition to renewable energy, it is also focusing on climate-friendly alternatives to climate-damaging technical gases, such as more environmentally friendly refrigerants for the air conditioning of trains.
Alongside non-motorised traffic, train travel is the most climate-friendly mode of transport. According to Swiss Railways, it causes only 0.3% of the carbon dioxide emissions of all transportation in Switzerland.
For 17% of passenger traffic and 38% of freight traffic, rail only requires five percent of the energy consumed by land transportation in Switzerland.
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Translated from German by DeepL/mga
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