In 2015, Dutch railway companies, of which NS is the largest, started their collaboration with energy company Eneco, to reduce their emissions.

The early completion of several wind farm projects in the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland enabled the transition of Dutch public transport trains to 100% renewables, which was initially planned to be achieved by 2018, one year ahead of schedule.

Currently in the Netherlands there are a total of 2,200 wind turbines across the country, supplying power to 2.4 million homes. The country’s train network alone requires 1.2 billion kWh of electricity each year, which is roughly equal to the total power consumed by all households in Amsterdam.

Michel Kerkhof, Account Manager at Eneco said: “What makes this contract and partnership unique is that a whole sector decreases its CO2 footprint enormously and sets an example for other sectors to follow.”

Renewable energy advocates hope that this important step in reducing the environmental footprint of the Netherlands’ rail network will inspire similar initiatives across the world, including for example the new high-speed rail projects in the United States.

Source: Climate Action Programme

Image credit: Daniel Mennerich, Flickr