Yes, you can come to DjangoCon Europe by train! Here’s how, for this year’s conference in Dublin.
The goal
Why would we do this? Well to reduce our carbon footprint of course! The main carbon emissions related to conferences are from transportation, specifically flights from attendees who aren’t local. We can reduce this by encouraging people to use lower-footprint modes of transport, like trains.
Who this is for
For a conference in Dublin, everyone who’s in the green areas on this isochrone map centered on London can reach Dublin within a day by train and ferry:
This includes all of England, Wales, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands. And lots of major cities in France, Germany, Switzerland. Outside this map, avoiding flights is definitely still possible – but would require overnight trains or multi-day trips.
It’s a much longer journey than flying, and likely to be more expensive too. But also much lower-carbon, more relaxing. And more adventurous!
How the carbon footprint compares
Here’s the results of my calculations, comparing the footprint of flights vs. train + ferry routes starting in European cities that allow travel to Dublin within this “one-day trip”:
| Starting from | Flight (kgCO2e) | Train + ferry (kgCO2e) |
|---|---|---|
| London | 64 | 16 (-75%) |
| Paris | 104 | 18 (-82%) |
| Amsterdam | 79 | 20 (-75%) |
| Brussels | 80 | 19 (-76%) |
| Cologne | 151 | 23 (-85%) |
On average that’s about 80% lower carbon footprints! Numbers will vary a bit for actual journeys but the math here is pretty solid.
Note: Ferry figures come from. Stena Line ferry carbon footprint calculator. Train travel from the UK government train travel emissions figures, and Eurostar sustainability figures. Flight figures come from Google Flights, cross-referenced with Green Events Tool.
If you want the details, here’s the spreadsheet: Travel emissions to Dublin - DjangoCon Europe 2025.
The journey
If you’re interested, The Man in Seat 61 is the best resource to prepare trips like this. But here’s the rough route plan:
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The TL;DR; is you should get yourself a SailRail tickets by Transport for Wales, which is about 120 euros for a return trip, and includes train travel in the UK and the ferry crossing. Then get a Eurostar ticket to reach London. Trains depart from London in the early morning and early afternoon. Roughly-speaking, if you can make it to Brussels or Paris by 1pm, you’ll be in Dublin by the end of the day.
If we all did this
If you spend some time projecting those emissions reductions as if everyone attending from those places took the train and ferry, you arrive at:
- Emissions from UK attendees going from 7 to 1.6 tons of CO2
- Netherlands travel emissions going from 8.5 to 1.5 tons
- Germany (Frankfurt) from 8.5 to 1.2 tons
- France (Paris) from 3 tons to 0.5 tons
- Belgium (Brussels) from 1.5 to 0.25 tons
All in all, if everyone within this isochrone “day trip” map made the trip via the ferry and train, it would take the conference’s total travel footprint from well above 100 tons of CO2, to well under it.
Do it!
I got my tickets today! If you can make it with the ferry and train, great. If not, whether due to travel times or cost, definitely come anyway! See you at DjangoCon Europe 2025.
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