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The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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03-08-2016 | ROADWAYS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Life cycle assessment of high-speed rail: a case study in Portugal

Authors: Heather Jones, Filipe Moura, Tiago Domingos

Published in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment | Issue 3/2017

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Abstract

Purpose

This study assesses the total life cycle environmental impact of the planned high-speed rail line from Lisbon to Porto, in Portugal. It includes the impact from the seven main processes of train manufacturing, train operation, train maintenance, train disposal, track construction, track operation and maintenance, and track disposal.

Methods

The SimaPro Life Cycle Assessment software is used and is based upon the ecoinvent v3 transport services process. The functional unit is 1 km of high-speed rail in Portugal for the processes and one passenger kilometer at the assembly level. Data was adjusted to reflect the Portuguese situation for electricity mix, domestic production of materials, transport distances, transport mode, and domestic emissions. In total, 50 different inputs were adjusted. The results were compared with transportation life cycle assessments for other countries.

Results and discussion

The train operation process contributes the most to total environmental emissions: 69 % of the 684 million kilograms CO2-eq., 76 % of the 4.9 million kilograms SO2-eq. and 82 % of the 2.4 million kilograms PM10-eq. Train manufacturing is the next largest contributor to total environmental emissions. The electricity mix plays a role in the amount of emissions, e.g., cleaner technology tends to have lower per passenger kilometer emissions. However, demand drives the amount of emissions per passenger kilometer.

Conclusions

While the train operation process contributes the most to emissions, ignoring the other processes results in a substantial understatement of total environmental impact. For CO2-eq. that means that 31 % of the total impact is ignored because the impact from construction, maintenance, and end of life is not included. Electricity mix and ridership levels have a very significant impact on emissions.
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Metadata
Title
Life cycle assessment of high-speed rail: a case study in Portugal
Authors
Heather Jones
Filipe Moura
Tiago Domingos
Publication date
03-08-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 0948-3349
Electronic ISSN: 1614-7502
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1177-7

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