For a stats nerd like me it's always educational to see Hannah Ritchie work with data. In a recent 'By the Numbers' Substack post she looks at rail electrification. Switzerland has electrified 100% of its railway network, India 94%, China 74%. The UK lags behind at 38% (measured by length of track): in the UK many of the busiest routes are electric: the East and West Coast main lines, most of the central belt of Scotland, and many of the commuter lines in South-East England. Change the measure to train miles and the UK rail network is around 60% electric and the rest is diesel. Almost no UK freight goes on electrified tracks.
Click on the map for source data.
So should the world invest in electrifying the rest of its rail networks? Ritchie points out that rail generates a mere 0.2% of our carbon emissions, so we would be building a lot of infrastructure for a small return; however that electrifying rail can make the experience of traveling by train better and faster, so that people have an incentive to switch from car or plane.
In April 2026, Ritchie was awarded the Publishers Association £10,000 Unwin Prize, given to "non-fiction authors in the earlier stages of their careers as authors whose work is considered to have made a significant contribution to the world.” She donated the prize money to the Against Malaria Foundation.
Original post by John Baxter in Second Nature 060 (May 2026). Category transport, tags rail.
Click on a link to see related content. For a list of categories and tags click here.