I will use the train for work or jump in the harbour

[Tim Grubb]

Ok...Chris has motivated me to pledge here and now that I am going to catch the train at least once during my current project to travel between Auckland and Wellington. I am interested if anyone else does this and what your experience with it is. I am betting that no-one in this group has caught the Overlander for WORK PURPOSES.

If I don't fulfill my pledge I will jump in Wellington Harbour at lunchtime dressed like an airline pilot. My project is supposed to end 20th November. It will be summer then.

I am interested in what prevents corporate types from doing this all the time - the reasons are pretty obvious but lets break it down a bit. I will use my experience to (hopefully) inform that debate.

I am going to include this pledge on our company's (soon to be written) Environmental Policy. Does anyone know how much carbon I am going to save by the way?

[Jasmine Cargill]

YES! Tim, I'm inspired by your pledge and that it's going to be included in your company policy! I'm really interested in your employer's response and support (or lack) of to you using the train for work travel. Will they pay you for your travel time? How much work will you be able to do during your train trip?

I look forward to updates of your mission.

If you don't fulfil your pledge you'll jump in the harbour dressed as an airline pilot. What will happen if/when you fulfil your pledge?

[Simon C McManus]

Probably the North Island business traveller gave up on rail with the death of the silverfern overnighter train, at least i think it's dead and gone, maybe it's a ghost train??

I'm fairly certain you could find out at least the approximate carbon savings from [e-mail] he might even be interested if your stunt indeed generates a little publicity. tell him i told you....

[Eva Lawrence]

Nice one Tim - you rock!

[Tim Grubb]

Thanks Simon I have emailed Nigel. Among other things I asked him if I can charge my laptop on the train. I need to work on the train because I am, after all, going for a meeting that I need to be ready for. But essentially I don't really see why I can't get tons of work done.

Alternatively I was thinking (if I can't charge my computer) to steal everyone's battery from their laptops because we are all using the same or similar computers. Does anyone know if that will work? Can one still use a MacBook without a battery if it is plugged into the wall?

Jasmine...I am not sure should happen if I fulfill my pledge, but it will mean that I have to stay in Auckland for a night so I would suggest that some of you guys meet me for a drink!! What a wizard idea this is turning out to be!

Its all happening.

[Thomas Stokell]

Nice one Tim - good call mate.

I'm based in the UK at the moment and use the train to get everywhere. The train network here is excellent. Heaps of business people use it and most intercity services have power points at every seat so you can plug your laptop in or charge your phone. I get so much work done on the train it's ridiculous. This is the future. You also get to enjoy the view while you work as the countryside rolls by.

As for the Overland train in NZ, I'm not sure. I doubt there is enough demand for them to install power points at each seat of the train, but I'd highly recommend that who ever runs the train services does just that.

Yes, you can ask your colleagues if you can borrow their macbook batteries and they can use their computers without the batteries. They'll just need to make sure they keep the computers on a clean surface and plugged in all the time as the battery connectors can get dirty which can cause problems...

Enjoy the journey!


Thomas

[Carl Chenery]

Hey Tim,

Nice work.

Hope to hear back from kiwirail about the emissions from train. I have been curious myself.

I have travelled to Wellington (from Auckland) for work- treated it as productive time- although I work 3 days a week part-time on climate change for EcoMatters (& 350) in Auckland, and self-employed the other time- which is different from corporate 5 days.

You can charge your batteries. At the front of each carriage is a power point- you can generally call in advance and book these seats, but if not- speaking to the train driver once you're on- he might be able to arrange you one of them- the challenge is that people get on and off at different parts of the journey and they ask to stay in the same place.

I intend to write up my blog experience here- will leave a comment here and in flightless birds when I do.

Carl

[Marianne Elliott]

Hi there,

I've used the Overlander for work. Until recently I worked for Oxfam and as we were trying to reduce our office emissions my boss supported me to take the Overlander from Wellington to Auckland for work. It meant one full day on the train in each direction, which were counted as work days and were also productive work days in practice.

I didn't figure out how to charge my laptop on the train but I had so much reading and writing/planning/scheming/thinking to get on with that it didn't matter. I read for the first few hours, thought/wrote/planned on paper for the next few and then pulled out the laptop and wrote it all up. After a decent days work I settled back with a glass of wine and a novel for the rest of the journey.

It was very, very easy and very, very pleasant (well, except for the teenagers sitting in front of me who got slowly but surely drunk and loud - but they fell asleep eventually). I recommend it to everyone.

I also recommend:
- taking your camera, you are going to see some of the most stunning landscape in NZ
- packing your own lunch if you are vegan/vegetarian/gluten intolerant etc
- getting off the train at Ohakune and going for a photo walk

You can do it. Easy as pie.

Cheers,

Marianne

[Tim Grubb]

safe as...thanks for the pointers on Overland Train travel. It is going to be mighty.

I am not afraid to admit from my weakness so that mankind may learn from it...I have been to Auckland twice since pledging to take the train and have flown both times. The challenge is mainly around needing to be in contact with emails throughout the day. Normally a Blackberry would get around this (although I don't have a Blackberry!!) but in this case I need to receive and edit and send documents 'on the fly' as it were. But I have asked work for a Vodem thing that I plug into my lappy and voila I am googlin' myself silly.

I am genuinely heartened by your comments that it is kosher to get work done on the train because that is my main concern - but shit if I can't put in an 8 hour day on a 12 hour train journey I have bigger problems.!

Looking forward to that blog post Carl - although I wasn't sure what it was going to be about...Your train journey? Sick - look forward to that.

I must admit I am reluctant to get on that train - but I am going to do it. I am going to write our company's Environmental Policy in the next few days if I get time, so will write in that anyone who catches the train for work gets a double-sized per diam and half a day in lieu.

Haven't heard from KiwiTrains yet. Thanks again for your comments - watch this space.

[Tim Grubb]

Ok guys - its not looking too good for me catching the train. I missed my prime opportunities to do so and I think I am wrapping this project up soon - there might be one last chance..!

All I can really do at this stage is write some thoughts about air travel vs. train travel to Auckland. I am a reasonably well intentioned individual - I really don't want to jump in the harbour at lunch time although it will be quite amusing. So if I can't get my sh*t together to catch the train I suspect there is little hope for others.

There are reasons that air travel is popular for work (and play) nowadays. We are obviously living in a time when taking a whole day away from the office / normal life is not really that easy. Time is so neatly packaged and accounted for - well mine certainly is.

I have never flown so much in my life as I am right now, although hopefully that ends when this project does. It is somewhat outrageous what people fly for...I have sat next to many 'commuters' in the past month or so and many are attending meetings that they don't really need to. It is out of control.

I also have really honed in on the cache that comes with flying. As a typical rule, if you fly a lot for work it means you must be doing something important. People love telling everyone how often they are flying (as I am doing now, but hopefully to a different end) to demonstrate that they are important. I just wish we could turn that on its head somehow.

It shouldn't be impossible to reframe that a little. I mean the fact is that flying for work is pretty shitty. It is for me at least...I am a single Dad and busting my ass around the country is not a good time. I hate sleeping in hotels - one night I woke up and was almost crippled by this lame pillow. There is a lot of coffee and waiting and, most importantly of all from a work perspective, it is almost impossible to really get any work done when you are travelling.

There have been a few times recently where I have simply refused (politely) to fly to Auckland for a meeting and my motivation was as much to do with my own productivity as any environmental concern. If I attend a meeting in Auckland it means that I really just have to catch up on my work in a hotel or at home in the evening. It seems terribly exciting and ou la la at first but really its arse and it just means that work encroaches further on life than it needs to.

One other thing I have got onto is this 'frequent flier' rubbish - which is basically like a kick back to people to encourage them to gear their work so they travel more. Because the individual accrues the air points, even though their work pays for the flights. That seems a bit off.

On the other hand, travelling offers the ability to meet new work-related people and that is something that I have really enjoyed. I really talking to taxi drivers too.

Anyway - these are just some thoughts on this issue. I think it is a fertile ground for discussion and speaks right to the heart of the cultural challenges to a more sustainable way of life.

I am really interested in how we might (as a society) remove some of the appeal or cool-ness that seems to accompany flying. Just like the speeding ads in Australia have been doing (anyone seen them? Where they have billboards with hot girls disapproving of fast driving boys). I think that the Plane Stupid people have been doing some good stuff on that front in the UK.

I haven't given up on the train trip - I think there might be one more trip up the way before the end of this project. Otherwise I will invite the welly people to watch me jump in the harbour in the next week or two. My work colleagues are really looking forward to it.

As an addendum, I do feel that in the course of my travel to Auckland I have planted a seed of environmental sustainability in what may become a massive project, so there is that.

[Annabel McAleer]

Hey Tim,

Interesting discussion! Good mag covered the carbon emitted from different ways to get from Auckland to Welli in issue 7 (the Lucy Lawless cover). The story's here:
http://good.net.nz/magazine/7/features/carbon-101

Basically, by getting the train instead of flying, you save 123 kg of CO2e each leg of the trip. Other interesting things are that going by train and backpacker bus (eg Naked Bus) 'costs' about the same (18kg of CO2e), while driving with just one person in the car is almost as bad as flying. The more people in the car, the less emissions per person.

Cheers
Annabel