Sustainable Transport and the Environment Guide - Unite the Union

authorities to provide bus services themselves, and to negotiate contracts which
specify high standards of labour relations, service and environmental impact.
There is also a need to retrofit and produce newer buses with less polluting engines, as
well as using lower emission fuel. Greater subsidy is needed but ultimately as the
ETF says, ‘the role of the state cannot be limited to ensuring (fair) competition
between companies and probably providing infrastructure, where it is too expensive
for the market to invest. The market has severe side effects on social and ecological
sustainability and does not provide sustainable infrastructure and public transport’.
Nowhere is this clearer than on the buses and in the ‘Cinderella sector’ of coaches.
Railways
Given the nature of the union’s structures at present, rail has not been taken account
of fully in this report. To some extent the new trade group will deal with this.
Between 1990 and 2006 Greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) from railways increased
from 0.24 per cent of total GGE to 0.35 per cent. During the same period total GGE
from the transport sector increased from 7.75 per cent to 12.8 per cent. So it is clear to
see that railways make up only a small amount of the total GGE in the UK and that
has only increased marginally in the last 17 years, and at a slower rate that the rest of
transport which has increased considerably. 11
Railways are an energy-efficient carrier of people and goods and hence produce
relatively less CO 2 emissions per passenger than other modes. Emissions of CO 2 per
passenger/Km are, on average, approximately half that of travel by car. 12 The UK is a
crowded island with a high population density. Rail makes more efficient use of
space. A double track railway can carry up to 10 times the number of people per hour
than a 2-lane road. 13 Railways can’t always get people or freight to the desired
destination in one go but they can often take them part or the majority of the way in
many instances and in partnership with other modes of transport clearly have a lot to
offer in delivering a sustainable transport plan.
Freight to rail
Rail transport is more fuel efficient and more jobs intensive than road transport, both
in terms of day to day operations and the infrastructure required (ie road or track).
Also there is a need to develop a number of rail freight consolidation centres across
the UK Carrying freight by rail results in an 80% cut in CO 2 emissions per Kilogram
carried compared to road haulage. 14 T&G policy has historically favoured rail
building over roads and continues to do so.
However government investment both in the UK and the EU has favoured road
building over rail, with rail employment falling and road freight employment
growing, in recent years. The majority of our freight in the UK travels by road.
Switching some of this to rail would result in a dramatic reduction in CO 2 emissions.
11 www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Expodata/Spreadsheets/D5695.xls
12 Railtrack - “Benefits of rail
13
The Railway Forum - “Rail and the Environment”
14 The Railway Forum - “Rail and the Environment”
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