DJ Annie Mac is taking the train to Glastonbury this year.
The Irish performer, whose real name is Annie Macmanus, joins a group of other artists playing at the Somerset festival who have all pledged to ditch the car in support of a new campaign entitled “I came by train”.
“The point is to get people just to think a little bit harder about how they are getting places,” said the former BBC Radio1 DJ on her Instagram account last week.
“Can you get the train, can you get an affordable ticket, instead of getting the car, because by doing that, it’s 67 per cent less polluting than getting in the car.”
Supported by the train app Trainline, the “I came by train” campaign asks people to do their bit for the environment by pledging to switch one car journey to a train journey.
Macmanus has joined fellow Glastonbury acts including Self Esteem and Sam Ryder in making the pledge to get there by train.
By travelling on the train from London’s Paddington station to Castle Cary, the nearest station to Glastonbury, festival-goers will save 12.8kg of carbon dioxide compared to those driving, according to the “I came by train” carbon calculator.
Travel from Holyhead to Castle Cary by train instead of by car and you’ll save 31.5kg of carbon dioxide. Taking about six hours and about three changes, that route isn’t going to be practical for everyone.
But you don’t have to be going to Glastonbury to do the right thing. Just swap one car journey to train, any journey at all, the campaign asks.
From rising temperatures to water shortages, marine heatwaves to gorse fires and floods, the planet is clearly struggling. We know we need to change how we do things, but it can be hard to know where to start.
And if a billionaire can send five celebrities on a space tourism-promoting flight, the emissions from which scientists say will contribute to global-heating and ozone depletion, why, you might ask, should you put yourself out by taking the train?
But whataboutery really isn’t going to get us anywhere. That’s why, despite the gigantic problems, the unchecked corporate greed and the ambivalence of some governments, many people are still trying every day with small acts to do the right thing – from eschewing a disposable coffee cup, to taking a shorter shower, to switching off a light.
How we travel has a big impact on carbon emissions and going car-free is the most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.
Almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland come from transport. Road transport accounts for nearly 95 per cent of transport emissions and passenger cars account for half of all road transport emissions.
Buses and trains have lower carbon emissions per passenger kilometre than cars and can carry more people per trip, thereby saving a large amount of CO2.
A typical train from Cork to Dublin, for example, replaces 90 cars on Irish roads and saves 1.6 tonnes of CO2 for every journey, according to Department of Transport figures.
There were 215,333 passenger journeys across the Irish rail network in a single day in 2024, according to the National Transport Authority (NTA).
Indeed, the numbers travelling by rail here are rising fast, with 38.5 million passenger journeys across the network in 2022 rising to 45.5 million in 2023 and about 51 million last year, according to Iarnród Éireann figures.
If some of those train journeys are replacing car journeys, that’s saving on emissions.
However, recent NTA fare increases on some routes feel like a regressive step. In April, the cost of a single cash fare from Greystones to Dublin Connolly rose from €3.90 to €5.10, and a return cash fare from €7.20 to €9.20, for example.
Passengers need trains to be more reliable too. Relatively frequent weekend closures on some routes are causing frustration.
Of course there are costs and delays with car travel too, and more emissions.
If you’re going somewhere this summer, you could be like Annie Mac and think a little bit more about how you get there. Whether you’re dancing with Charli XCX at Malahide Castle, Billie Eilish at the 3Arena, or Oasis at Croke Park, you’ll be doing the planet a favour if you travel by train.
