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Our hearts have been pounding with excitement all morning and now we are finally on the maiden Eurostar journey from the fabulous new St Pancras International to Paris. We've been travelling at 186mph and were thrilled by the prospect of getting to Paris in 2 hours and 15 minutes -- cutting the journey time by 20 minutes. What's more exciting, though, is that this journey is carbon neutral, making Eurostar the first train operator in the world to offset all passenger journeys. It's part of the firm's Tread Lightly 10 point plan to cut 25 per cent of its carbon emissions by 2012.
On the journey, we asked Richard Brown, Eurostar's chief executive, whether going at such high speed now means the trains now produce more CO2 than before. He admitted they do, but only slightly, emphasising that the trains still only emit 10.9kg of CO2 per person going to Paris and back -- as opposed to 122kg for a return flight from London to Paris.
He also told SmartPlanet how Eurostar plans to offset all future journeys. "We're going to invest in carbon off-setting projects every other month. The first one is going to be a wind-farm in India, which will supply the local textile industry, the next one will be a hydro project in China and we're looking to do a project in Indonesia modifying three-wheel taxis to minimise fuel consumption and reduce emissions."
So how will Eurostar slash its carbon footprint by a quarter in five years? "By installing energy-advice systems to help drivers drive as energy-efficiently as possible, reduce power consumption, source renewable electricity and make better use of train capacity." Eurostar staff will also have to get used to recycling as much as possible and washing the trains in a more eco-friendly way.
This first train is carrying around 500 environmentalists -- and a few journalists -- and it's good fun to be on the move with people such as Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, green queen Joanna Yarrow and Rosie from Terra Plana.
Just before boarding the train, Brown announced that Eurostar is so serious about being green that it's joined forces with Friends of the Earth. Together with Juniper, Brown named this very first train Tread Lightly after the carbon-cutting initiative. It's a sweet monicker -- though maybe not quite as memorable as the Great Scotsman or Brighton Belle.
Tony Juniper told us why his green charity decided to partner with Eurostar: "We think the Tread Lightly initiative is a fantastic example of how companies can look across all their operations to reduce their impact on the environment."
Anyway, we're now at Paris Gare du Nord, so catch you later! Watch this space for more Eurostar news -- we'll have a video report of the whole experience tomorrow (Thursday 15 November). Update: our vid's been delayed, it'll be live on the site with a link from here very shortly.
14 November 2007 04:26pm
If that train crashed, then emissions would be allowed to run rampant!
Maybe you should all travel seperately, like the Royal family.
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