Amtrak train options will now appear when you travel through Google Flights

If you search for the distance from New York to Boston, Google will show you that the trip takes about five hours to drive. Below that map, Google is now sharing information on making the same trip by train with Amtrak, which takes about four hours, including details of Amtrak train schedules.

And if Google flies between two cities, under the flight price preview at the top of the page, users will also see the heading “Consider taking the train.” Traveling by train takes longer than flying, but the search engine notes, next to the image of a small green leaf, a “climate-friendly” option. When searching for flights from October 12 to October 14, many Amtrak options were actually cheaper than flights.

The information is part of a new partnership Amtrak launched with Google this week to support sustainable transportation. That integration pulls in direct, up-to-date Amtrak data, so people searching on Google can see train times, trip lengths, and fares right on the Google search results page. To book an Amtrak train trip, users can simply click on the search results and complete their purchase on the Amtrak website, without re-entering all of their travel information.

Environmental charges for airplanes compared to trains

Air travel comes with a large environmental footprint, and short-haul flights like the one between New York and Boston (which, at less than 200 miles, takes less than two hours) pollute the most. Short-haul flights (or those under 620 miles) have a higher carbon footprint than long-haul flights. That’s because dynamic travel is a big part of every flight, and on long-haul flights, planes can “cruise” for long periods of time. Also, short-haul flights are often made with more fuel-efficient aircraft, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation.

By 2021, France has said it will ban any short-haul flight that can be replaced by a train journey of 2.5 hours or less as a way to curb carbon emissions. The US rail network is not as extensive as Europe’s, but many Americans have turned to train over time. When Amtrak opened a new rail line between Chicago and the Twin Cities this past summer, ridership exceeded the company’s expectations.

That’s not the only way Amtrak hopes to rise. The company has a plan to increase the number of passengers by 2040, to 66 million passengers. Along with Amtrak, intercity rail is seeing a revival thanks to companies like Brightline, which owns a private passenger rail line in Florida and is now working on a high-speed rail line that will run between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Merging Google and Amtrak

Amtrak hopes the data integration with Google helps more passengers choose the train over air travel. Every time someone takes Amtrak instead of flying, the company says, they can reduce their carbon footprint by 72%.

“By integrating our schedules and fares directly into Google’s social networks, we’re not only improving the customer experience, but also empowering them to make more sustainable travel choices,” said Christian Zacariassen, senior vice president of Digital Technology & Innovation at Amtrak. , said in an email. “As we mark another step in our commitment to innovation and customer service, we are leveraging technology to provide real-time information that helps travelers make more informed decisions.”

Google has been nudging users toward low-carbon travel options in several ways. The search engine also adds bus travel information to its results, and shows suggestions for public transportation or walking along driving routes, where travel times are “comparable and practical” on Maps. It first introduced train fares and schedules in select countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan back in 2022.