So you plan on traveling 200-ish miles solo for a weekend trip and you want to take the most climate-friendly option. Should you drive, fly or take the train?

Kiki Sideris of The Associated Press hopped on Amtrak’s electrified Northeast Corridor to find out.

Let’s use a one-way trip from New York to D.C. as an example — about 225 miles. Sideris pulled emissions estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency and then did the math

Planes and cars emit way more than trains.

Short flights are especially bad because takeoff and landing burn the most fuel, which is a huge share of emissions on a one-hour flight.

So if you’ve got access to an electric route – like the Northeast Corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C. – that’s usually your lowest-emissions choice.

But most passenger trains across the U.S. still run on diesel, and those emissions are closer to car travel, and sometimes even worse on long-haul routes.

In total, cars produce the most transportation emissions because Americans drive almost every day, and most people don’t fly regularly. And the biggest problem is that people drive alone. Carpooling slashes those emissions.

And flying – especially short flights – is almost always the dirtiest per passenger mile.

While choosing the train over flying or driving can slash your personal footprint for that trip, Kane says most U.S. transportation emissions come from our everyday car travel. Cutting that takes major infrastructure investments and policy changes — not just individual swaps.

Still, on your next trip, it’s worth comparing not just prices, but emissions — because it all adds up.