Cincinnati Zoo debuts new electric train powered by solar panels
By WLWT Digital Staff
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CINCINNATI (WLWT) — The Cincinnati Zoo has a new electric train chugging through the zoo this year.
The new train is powered by the solar panels that visitors park under when visiting the zoo. The train charges overnight and while loading and unloading.
The train will chug through an extra bright light tunnel that’s part of the 40th annual PNC Festival of Lights.
The new train will save the zoo about $35,000 on fuel and maintenance costs annually and will get it closer to its goal of being net-zero by 2025.
“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,” Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard said in a statement.
The new train is also more comfortable for visitors, giving more legroom and wider seats.
And to match the green initiative, the train itself has been painted 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 zoo opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays during the Festival of Lights.
The North Polar Express Train starts running daily at 2:30 p.m.
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