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Swiss rail to run solely on renewable electricity from 2025

SBB trains will only run on electricity from renewable sources from 2025
SBB trains will only run on electricity from renewable sources from 2025 Keystone-SDA

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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