Your Sustainable Journey

Knowing the impact that your journey is making on the environment makes it easier to make a more environmentally friendly travel choice.

We’ve created a carbon calculator to help visualise how many carbon emissions can be saved when you choose to travel by train rather than a car, or for a longer journey, a plane. Even for a short journey the difference in carbon emissions for the train versus a single occupancy car is fascinating. It shows that one small change or choice can make a big impact.

Use the calculator below to see what emissions you can save.

Our carbon calculator

What you can do

What do you mostly use the train for? Use the dropdowns below to see how your decision to take the train is making a positive impact on the environment.

You can travel along some stunning routes with ScotRail, and by choosing the train, you’re reducing your carbon footprint than if you were to travel by other means. If you travel 80 miles each month by train (from Ayr to Edinburgh) you could save over 220kg CO2 over a year compared to driving. That's the same amount of CO2 generated by the electricity used to power a TV for two years.

Did you know that we support locations using our biodiversity fund including Lochwinnoch? Next time you’re planning a day out, why not aim for a sustainable one?

For more information about using the train for leisure travel or some inspiration on where to explore next, have a look here

While commuting looks very different now than it did a couple of years ago, even taking a short journey by train into the office once or twice a week still makes a big saving on your carbon footprint than if you were to drive. Making a return journey of around 15 miles a couple of times a week saves enough energy to boil 100 kettles. And now more of us are working from home, that kettle gets used a lot!

We’re constantly working hard to make your commute as simple and environmentally friendly as possible. We know it’s not always easy to simply just walk to a station and you may need to use other transport to get there. Cycling is a great way to get around that benefits you and the environment. We’ve added more cycle parking to our stations and teamed up with nextbike to access rental bikes close to stations across Glasgow and Stirling. The numbers of electric vehicles on the roads is ever increasing and we now have electric vehicle charging points at over 50 of our stations.

Another way to make your commute more environmentally friendly is to load your travel pass or Flexipass tickets to a Smartcard. You can get a Smartcard for free here and it’s really easy to load tickets onto it. You can do it direct from your phone, at a ticket vending machine or in a booking office.

While in person meetings may no longer be the norm, being able to travel for business is still essential for some people. Taking the train to meetings helps to reduce your carbon footprint and gives you time to get more work done. Making a return journey once a week between Glasgow and Edinburgh saves more than half a tonne of CO2 over a year compared to driving. That's the equivalent of powering a computer for nearly four years.

There are many reasons why using the train for business travel or commuting can also help an organisation’s sustainability report.

Find out more

If you would like to find out more about using the train for business, please contact our B2B team at [email protected] or arrange a virtual meeting with them here

To engage with our team, please contact [email protected]