Rail accounts for 16 percent of passenger travel and 37 percent of freight transport while using only 5 percent of the energy consumed by transport in Switzerland.

So if you travel by train or send your goods by rail rather than road, you take pressure off the environment. SBB is able to achieve this good result mainly because of its climate-friendly traction current mix, more than 90 percent of which comes from hydroelectricity. In terms of meeting the Kyoto Protocol targets, this is of major importance: about a third of Swiss greenhouse emissions are generated by the transport sector. Switzerland has not yet managed to meet its goals for reductions in fuel consumption.

One person's average journey by train in Switzerland uses the equivalent of one litre of fuel per hundred kilometres. Not only have SBB's trains long since met this "one-litre" target, but they are also powered by electricity. The score for freight traffic is also good: SBB freight trains are responsible for releasing 14 grams of CO₂ into the atmosphere per tonne of freight and kilometre – whereas transportation on an average Swiss truck generates 281 grams.