Effect of Paris agreement on Railways.

Nearly 200 countries have agreed to try and limit carbon emissions in Paris today.
This will have an effect on railroads worldwide. Clearly, Coal traffic will reduce, a major commodity carried by most railways. I would imagine oil traffic will also be affected to a lesser degree.
On the plus side, Biomass (woodchip etc ) traffic may increase. Rails reduced energy use should make its increased use a tool for governments looking to reduce CO2 emissions. Electrification may be encouraged, as may the use of public transport in general.

Regadless of your views on global warming, ( our regulars are well aware of each others views!), the agreement has been reached , so lets focus on the benefit to rail , rather than debating global warming itself.
I am hoping it will lead to investment in rail , rather than road, in New Zealand, but I don't see the current government sharing that view.

David Benton wrote: I am hoping it will lead to investment in rail , rather than road, in New Zealand, but I don't see the current government sharing that view.

UK is investing over 9 billion pounds in new carriages. See my post below about UK adding 3700 new carriages over the next four years on account of increased demand, and rolling stock that is twenty or more years old.

In my country, far more people travel by road than by rail, including me; so I am in favor of investment in our highways. My employer, NJ Transit, has a number of passenger rail lines covering the rather small state of New Jersey, but far more of its riders are on its buses. As for freight, far more of that is on our nation's highways rather than its rails.
(And as for global warming, we are enjoying rather mild weather so far this winter, in my part of the world. So viva global warming, arriba global warming! )

The public bus is a very efficient form of transport.
The problem with warm winters is rodents and other pests tend to survive and prosper. Otherwise, most people wouldn't complain too much about warmer winters.
however, the most problematic symptom of global warming is more extremes of weather, which we are seeing already.

David Benton wrote: however, the most problematic symptom of global warming is more extremes of weather, which we are seeing already.

I wonder if last week's floods in Northern UK and Ireland are examples of that.

philipmartin wrote:

David Benton wrote: however, the most problematic symptom of global warming is more extremes of weather, which we are seeing already.

I wonder if last week's floods in Northern UK and Ireland are examples of that.

Almost certainly. The warming trend places more water in the atmosphere and it has to come down. The result is a greater frequency of extreme rainfall events. In Britain there have been a number of extreme rainfall events. The recent ones in the northwest of England have flooded a large area and damaged a number of houses, many of them for the second time in a decade. This means they will have experienced extensive cleaning and repairs which they now have to do again, and also replacement of furnitue and electrical equipment. Insurance rates have risen.

Many roads have been damaged and will need extensive work.

The rail lines don't seem to have suffered much damage, but they were out of use when flooded.

David Benton wrote:Electrification may be encouraged

Some in Europe go beyond that. In the Netherlands public and private railway companies signed a contract last year that they'd move to buy 100% of their energy needs from new-built wind energy parks by 2018.

kato wrote:

David Benton wrote:Electrification may be encouraged

Some in Europe go beyond that. In the Netherlands public and private railway companies signed a contract last year that they'd move to buy 100% of their energy needs from new-built wind energy parks by 2018.

The current British government- for which I did not vote - contains a number of people who seem to believe global warming is a scam and does not need to be planned for. They have removed the subsidies for wind power. They prefer to rely on natural gas rather than coal.

kato wrote:In the Netherlands public and private railway companies signed a contract last year that they'd move to buy 100% of their energy needs from new-built wind energy parks by 2018.

How does that work on days when there is no breeze? Crank up the coal or gas fired power plants? Or put up signs "no trains right now account no breeze."
Related articles. http://www.popsci.com/just-three-years- ... wind-power" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.railway-technology.com/featu ... n-4647194/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

philipmartin wrote:How does that work on days when there is no breeze?

There's always a breeze somewhere at sea. Offshore wind parks in the North Sea. If it doesn't blow anywhere on the Dutch coast they'll buy it from newly built offshore and onshore farms in Scandinavia and Belgium, based on contracts signed for this purpose; rough plans are to buy 50% from those wind farms abroad. Planned requirement is for 1.4 TWh per year by 2018 (current use: 1.2 TWh per year). Current Dutch national installed offshore capacity at a typical 27% full load production produces 2.4 TWh per year now and a planned about 10-11 TWh by 2020.

kato wrote:

philipmartin wrote:How does that work on days when there is no breeze?

There's always a breeze somewhere at sea. Offshore wind parks in the North Sea. If it doesn't blow anywhere on the Dutch coast they'll buy it from newly built offshore and onshore farms in Scandinavia and Belgium, based on contracts signed for this purpose; rough plans are to buy 50% from those wind farms abroad. Planned requirement is for 1.4 TWh per year by 2018 (current use: 1.2 TWh per year). Current Dutch national installed offshore capacity at a typical 27% full load production produces 2.4 TWh per year now and a planned about 10-11 TWh by 2020.

Britain and Ireland both have very good sources of wind energy. Britain has installed some wind farms at sea and a few on land. The current government has removed the financial encouragement for on-land wind sites - the cheapest option - but presumably they won't be in office for ever.

Presumably there will be less coal traffic on the railways, which will reduce freight revenue - it's always been a tidy little earner. I believe Britain's last deep coal mine closed last week.

johnthefireman wrote: I believe Britain's last deep coal mine closed last week.

So "How Green was my Valley" will be green again.
Here's a 1911 film of a coal mine in Wigan, Filmed by Keystone for the LNWR ( London & North Western Railway ) who had their own full time film unit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D581TDHFpmE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For a little more cheer here's a three minute film of the steam tram in Wigan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2eXQhWXrR4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It's from the series "The Films of Mitchell & Kenyon" which is an appealing look at England in the early years of the 20th Century.
Below- the poignant cover of George Orwell's book "The Road to Wigan Pier."

philipmartin wrote: Here's a 1911 film of a coal mine in Wigan,

The Alexandra Colliery.
Below, another view of the Wigan steam tram.

johnthefireman wrote:Presumably there will be less coal traffic on the railways, which will reduce freight revenue - it's always been a tidy little earner. I believe Britain's last deep coal mine closed last week.

For the foreseeable period there will still be imports, hopefully reducing.

george matthews wrote:For the foreseeable period there will still be imports

Yes, the old proverb about bringing coals to Newcastle has come true with a vengeance.