Tour specific travel advice to cut carbon emissions – for your Eastern Oberland tour
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. Current net carbon emissions from club 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, Jungfraujoch/Rosenlaui, from London.
Train. The most feasible route is from London via Paris or Brussels to Interlaken (11-12 hours), and then onward by train to the Jungfraujoch/from Rosenlaui (www.sbb.ch). For train times see www.bahn.co.uk – just enter origin London, or your local GB station, and your final destination, pretty much anywhere in Europe. It is possible to reach Interlaken in a day from London, but not the Jungfraujoch. Rosenlaui to London is feasible in a day.
Eurostar does not offer through London-Interlaken tickets. You can buy a ticket to Paris or Brussels on www.eurostar.com, and another onwards from Paris to Basel at www.oui.sncf.com., or from Brussels to Interlaken at www.bahn.co.uk (DB). To be on the safe side allow 90 minutes in Paris, and 30 in Brussels. Booked well ahead Eurostar charge about £60 one way from London to Paris or Brussels and SNCF charge as little as €29 from Paris to Basel, and DB €49 for Brussels to Interlaken. Local Swiss tickets and times for bus and train at www.sbb.ch. Interlaken-Jungfraujoch is 60CHF, Basel-Interlaken about 20CHF
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. By bus it is possible to get from London to Basel changing in Paris and eastern France in about 20 hours for about £60 one way, then train. 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 Grindelwald of around 12 hours, a distance of 1000 km/625 miles and tolls of €35 one way (plus Swiss vignette, 40CHF/year). It also calculates 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 Hull-Zeebrugge or Newcastle Amsterdam ferries may be good (though still carbon intensive) alternatives to Euroshuttle. By train, it is possible to return as far north as Edinburgh in one day from some stations in the western Alps (Modane, for example; or from Zurich), though more difficult on the outward due to the time difference. See www.bahn.co.uk