Trains in the Netherlands Now Run Entirely on Wind Energy

NS, the Dutch rail operator, has announced that its trains now run on 100 percent wind energy, according to The Guardian. Together with energy supplier Eneco, the railway company—which runs about 5500 trips a day—achieved the global milestone on January 1, substantially before its goal of 2018.

Over the course of an hour, a single windmill can power a train traveling 120 miles. According to NS and Eneco, this enables 600,000 train travelers per day to travel without generating emissions.

NS and Eneco began working on the project in 2015, and ran 75 percent of trains on wind power last year.

The Netherlands isn’t the only European country to attempt to mitigate the environmental impact of its transit systems. Germany plans to launch a hydrogen-powered passenger train this year. The idea has also been floated to some extent in the U.S., a country that lacks widespread passenger train routes. California plans to run its future high-speed railway on renewable energy, though that $64 billion project has encountered multiple roadblocks since it was approved by the state legislature in 2012.

[h/t The Guardian]