CINCINNATI — Taking a ride on the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens classic train is practically a right of passage for zoo visitors, and now, that train is new, improved and more environmentally conscious.
Starting Dec. 2, the new train is fully electric whereas the old one used to run on diesel fuel.
"While we are sad (for sentimental reasons) to say goodbye to our classic, diesel-fueled train, we are excited to make the switch to a sustainable, lower maintenance, electric train," said Thane Maynard, director at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Maynard said the new train is almost entirely powered by the solar panels zoo visitors park under.
"It charges overnight and during loading and unloading, so it's always ready to take passengers for a fun ride," Maynard said.
The zoo said the new train will save the zoo roughly $35,000 on fuel and maintenance costs per year. It will also get the zoo closer to its goal to be NetZero by 2025.
NetZero means that the amount of greenhouse gases one produces is equal to the amount of greenhouse gases one is removing from the atmosphere.
The train still chugs through the zoo's traditional bright light tunnel for the 40th annual PNC Festival of Lights, but it also has some new additions.
Other than being fit with more leg room for passengers and ever-so-slightly wider as well, the train is also a new color: green!
"As the Greenest Zoo in America, we thought it would be fitting to have a green train," Maynard said. "The change makes it more obvious that it's new and different and brings more attention to the Zoo's sustainability efforts."
The train is available to ride every day the zoo is open beginning at 2:30 p.m.
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