Train: EPA 🇺🇸

💡 High-Level Description

The US EPA GHG Emission Factors Hub provides passenger-rail emission factors used for corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting in the United States. For trains, factors are expressed as gCO₂e per passenger-kilometer and include CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O aggregated using the EPA’s 100-year GWPs for the given Hub year. In this implementation:

  • Units: gCO₂e/pax-km

  • Scope: well-to-wheel (WTW) representation of emissions reflected in EPA’s factors

  • Coverage: intercity (national average & route-specific), commuter rail, and transit rail

Note on versions: If methodology_version is omitted, SQUAKE will always use the latest supported EPA Hub year. Pinning is recommended for reproducibility.

API Request

{
  "expand": ["items"],
  "items": [
    {
      "type": "train",
      "external_reference": "test_1",
      "distance_in_km": 500,
      "number_of_travelers": 1,
      "methodology": "US-EPA",
      "train_type": "intercity_national_average"
    }
  ]
}

API Request Items

  • "type": "train" (required)

  • "methodology": "US-EPA" (required)

  • "methodology_version": EPA Hub year (e.g., "2023"). Optional. If omitted, the calculation defaults to the latest supported year.

  • "external_reference": Your unique identifier for correlating responses. Max length 128 chars.

  • "number_of_travelers": Minimum 1. Default: 1.

  • "distance_in_km": Preferred distance input. If both distance_in_km and origin/destination are given, distance_in_km is used.

  • "origin" and "destination" (optional): If provided, SQUAKE will resolve the rail distance. Accepts IATA/ICAO/UNLOCODE/postal formats or "lat,lon" (e.g., "+40.712,-74.006"). Note: For EPA factors, the train type should match U.S. service classes (see below).

  • "train_type": Supported

    • "intercity_northeast_corridor"

    • "intercity_other_routes"

    • "intercity_national_average"

    • "commuter_rail"

    • "transit_rail"

Defaults

  • "train_type": "intercity_national_average"

  • "number_of_travelers": 1"

  • If "methodology_version" is omitted → latest supported EPA Hub year.

Computation

Let EF be the factor in gCO₂e/pax-km for the chosen train_type and methodology_version (or latest if omitted).

total_gCO2e = EF × distance_in_km × number_of_travelers

All outputs are returned in grams by default.

Sample API Response

{
  "carbon_quantity": 18127.337,
  "carbon_unit": "gram",
  "items": [
    {
      "carbon_quantity": 18127.337,
      "carbon_unit": "gram",
      "external_reference": "test_case_1",
      "type": "train",
      "methodology": "US-EPA",
      "distance": 500.0,
      "distance_unit": "kilometer",
      "train_type": "intercity_northeast_corridor"
    }
  ]
}

Bibliography

  • US EPA. GHG Emission Factors Hub (Passenger Rail). https://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/ghg-emission-factors-hub

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