I am taking the night train (ÖBB nightjet) from Vienna to Zurich today. So let us take this as an opportunity to compare the carbon footprint (all numbers for the one-way trip!):
- Driving from Vienna to Zurich takes 7h 30min, costs 80-120 Euro, and produces 122kg of CO2.
- Flying from Vienna to Zurich takes 4h 11 min, costs 65-288 Euro, and produces 162kg of CO2.
Compensating this amount of CO2 on atmosfair costs 5 Euro. - Taking the day train from Vienna to Zurich takes 7h 50min during the day, costs 39 Euro, and produces almost no CO2 (in Austria and Switzerland most electricity comes from water power).
- Taking the night train from Vienna to Zurich takes 10h 50min, you have a safe and cozy bed, and the bed in the 4-bed compartment costs 89 Euro. And again: it produces almost no CO2.
You leave at 21:27 and arrive at 8:20: you practically don’t loose any time, you spend the trip sleeping.
