Tour specific travel advice to cut carbon emissions – for your tour starting in Reschen
The Eagles now has a target to emit net zero carbon from its activities within two full seasons, by cutting emissions by swapping from air to train, for example; and by offsetting. At the moment net emissions after offsetting from all tours are about 280 tonnes per year. (To keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees by 2100, each person should emit on average no more than 1.5 tonnes per year.) If you would like to help reach the club’s target, there are two main things you can do:
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Choose lower emission mode(s) of transport for all or part of your trip. (Taking a direct flight from say Edinburgh to Munich then continuing to Innsbruck by train, instead of taking connecting flights, will still cut emissions. Or travel by train in one direction and plane the other.) And/or;
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Offset your travel (by whatever mode) by buying from the Club’s emissions offset scheme at a cost of around £3.50 for an average return flight within Europe and less for other modes.
Per passenger, the rough CO2 emissions for a return from London to Geneva are as follows
Direct flight, Economy Class 400kg
Large car, 4 passengers 160kg
Small car, 4 passengers 80kg
Coach 50kg
Train (e.g. Eurostar ) 25kg
(Source of data: here)
This document gives a few tips on booking lower carbon travel to the start/end point of your tour, Reschen/Resia (South Tyrol), from London.
Train. Reschen is around 13½ hours by train from London St Pancras, with changes in Paris (from Gare du Nord to Gare du Lyon, using one metro line; tickets at the Eurostar buffet car), Zurich, and then Swiss public transport. Connections are a bit tight, though, so you might prefer a night somewhere en route. For train (and in Germany and Switzerland also local bus) times see www.bahn.co.uk – just enter origin London, or your local GB station, and your final destination.
Eurostar does not offer through London-Zurich tickets. You can buy a ticket to Paris on www.eurostar.com, and another onwards from Paris to Zurich at the French railways page www.oui.sncf.com. Booked well ahead Eurostar charge around £60 for a single from London to Paris and SNCF charge as little as €29 from Paris to Zurich. From Zurich to Reschen is 46 CHF one way, bought on the day at www.sbb.ch – sometimes cheaper if booked in advance.
Eurostar and German Rail (DB) tickets go on sale 6 months in advance and SNCF 4 months. More train travel info at https://www.eagleskiclub.org.uk/plan-your-trip/low-carbon-travel/train-travel-tips-and-hints.
Bus. It is possible to get from London to Zurich by bus in about 20 hours, changing in Paris and one other city, for as little as £50 one way. You can look at times and prices at www.flixbus.co.uk
Car. The Michelin route planner www.viamichelin.com suggests a drive time from London to Reschen of 13 hours, a distance of 1200 km/750 miles and tolls of €66 one way including Swiss vignette. You can also calculate fuel costs for your car, though not Euroshuttle.
Carshare. Blablacar is a carsharing app, heavily used in continental Europe. You pay for a lift – www.blablacar.com. If driving, register to offer lifts and make money - €70 Lyon-Calais, for example.
Travelling from outside London? Apologies if this info all seems a bit London-centric but pretty much all rail and bus travel from the UK to the continent is via London, though when driving, the Amsterdam-Newcastle or Hull-Zeebrugge ferry may alternatives to Euroshuttle (although ferries emit much carbon per km). By train, it is possible to return as far north as Edinburgh in one day from the western Alps (Modane or Zurich, for example), though more difficult on the outward due to the time difference.