High Speed Rail

Tested Methodologies and Results from Europe

High Speed Rail

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................... 4

2 SCOPE OF THE TOPIC................................................. 8 THE COMMON TRANSPORT POLICY .......................... 11 THE EUROPEAN UNION IS ON TRACK – DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL NETWORK ............................. 15 YES TO HIGH-SPEED RAILWAYS! BUT WHY? ........... 17 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF HIGH-SPEED TRAINS 20 GROWING DEMAND ................................................. 22 NETWORK EXTENSION............................................. 24 SHINING EXAMPLES AND STRATEGIES IN EUROPE . 27 France ............................................................................................................................ 27 Germany ........................................................................................................................ 30 Spain .............................................................................................................................. 33

Comparison of three national projects ......................................................... 36

OUTLOOK ON RESEARCH ......................................... 40 What’s next? ............................................................................................................. 40 Results ......................................................................................................................... 46

3 REFERENCES ............................................................ 48

This publication was produced by the PRESS4TRANSPORT consortium on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research. The European Union, the European Commission or any person acting on their behalf are not responsible for the accurateness, completeness, use of the information contained in this Fiche, nor shall they be liable for any loss, including consequential loss, that might derive from such use or from the findings of the Fiche themselves.

Although the authors exercised all reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and the quality of the contents of this publication, the Consortium assumes no liability for any inadvertent error or omission that may appear in this publication. Additional information on the analyzed projects is available on the PRESS4TRANSPORT website at http://www.press4transport.eu/vpo/thematic_fiches.php Created by: PRESS4TRANSPORT Consortium Coordinator: CYBION Srl Responsible Scientific Partner: Budapest University of Technology and Economics Author: Balazs Kozak, Gabor Szendro

EXECUTIVE

SUMMARY 4

This paper aims at giving an

Transport is organic part of our

overall view of high-speed rail

everyday life, important part of

in Europe. It investigates the

the

policy background of this mode

European

Commission

of transport and shows how the

indifferent

from

high-speed

related

integrated

rail and

became

non-negligible

economy,

therefore

the

problems

increasing

the

is

not

transport such

as

occurrence

of

part of the European policies. It

congestions,

also gives a thorough picture

infrastructure of peripheral and

about the recent situation within

cohesion

the European Union, and how far

pollution coming from transport

the

and related health problems etc.

development

of

network

underdeveloped

regions,

increasing

extensions could reach as well as about

ongoing

research

The European Union is strongly committed

programmes.

sustainable

to

create

transport

a

system

High-speed train is a form of

which is described in the White

passenger

Paper. In this common transport

transport

in

which

trains travel at a speed of at

policy

least 200 km/h and may exceed

specific role and calls attention to

300

km/h

in

railways

have

its

own

special

the recent situation in respect to

circumstances, and this gives its

the future objectives and the

greatest advantage among many

Single European Market in which

others.

high-speed decisive role.

rail

could

play

a

Railways had been an issue of

time,

comfort,

and

previous EU transport policies,

environmental impact.

low

which led to the creation of a core

multi-modal

transport

network of the European Union is created.

5

The

Trans-European

Transport Network (TEN-T) puts large emphasis on the railways with

special regards to high-

speed rail. High-speed rail policy frameworks

come

into

action

through European projects such as the fully functional TransEuropean (TEN-T)

Transport by

Network

2030, finishing

a

complete high-speed rail network concerning all member states of the European Union by 2030, and

use

the

synergies

by

Conventional rail was stagnating or

losing

share

the last two decades, although recently

there

has

been

an

overall slight increase and stop of

fallback

in

market

share,

thanks to high-speed rail, which could

lead

to

the

revival

of

railways 200 years after this transport

technology

changed

the world. The appearance of new

transport

had

an

unprecedented impact on travel habits where it was implemented and gave impetus for further network

combining air transport.

market

depending on member states in

extensions,

albeit

mostly in EU-15 countries.

This new technology appeared decades ago in the European market and from its short and successful history, its potentials and European transport policies bright future is foreseen for highspeed rail. The most important factors

are

discussed

in

this

section such as distance, travel

Germany, France and Spain are considered leading countries in the

European

high-speed

market, therefore we decided to give more detailed look on them by introducing three prominent project from each demonstrating

the

success of

this mode

of

transport.

European gauge as well), which changed

radically

the

former

travel habits on that route and France, which is a technological leader in European and world

served as a best practice for future developments.

market, had a major role in

6

implementing high-speed rail in

The European Union must invest

Europe by the Paris-Marseille line

in research and development to

by

maintain its leading position in

which

the

Mediterranean

region is as close as 3 hours

high-speed

from the French capital.

Moreover,

rail the

competitive Germany

invested

mostly

upgrading

conventional

in

tracks,

but creating a decentralized and more or less evenly distributed system.

The

case

of

the

Frankfurt-Cologne line serves as a best practice for intermodality between air and rail transport, which is among the priorities of the European Commission.

Spain

has

the

longest

high-

speed rail system and plans to have a dense network that is easily accessible to the majority of the population. The MadridSeville

line

was

the

first

inaugurated line (the first with

technology.

EU

needs

and

a

sustainable

transport system in which highspeed rail plays major role. The Seventh Framework Programme of

the

European

Commission

R&D

projects

financed

concentrate on such innovations which and

foster lower

reliability,

costs

of

safety

European

railways,

including

high-speed

rail.

in

innovations

All

all,

contribute to the interoperability of European railway systems The R&D projects concentrate on the physical infrastructure and the rolling stock interoperability ensuring more attractive, safer,

cheaper

and

more

reliable

European high-speed rail system.

communicate

their

surface

transport research results to the media.

PRESS4TRANSPORT

is funded

by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research

7

PRESS4TRANSPORT

details:

under the Seventh Framework

This fiche is produced within the

Programme

PRESS4TRANSPORT

Technological

Press

Office

Sustainable

to

(Virtual

improve

Surface

EU

Transport

research media visibility on a national

and

regional

level)

project. The overall aim of the project is to assists EU, National and

Regional

funded

projects

(FP7).

for

Research

and

Development

Scope

of

the

topic

The

8

high-speed train (HST)

is a way of passenger railway transport that is much faster than ordinary railways. According to the definition of the European Union 1 HSTs are travelling at a speed on the order of 200 km/h on

existing

lines

which

have

been or are specially upgraded or travelling at a speed of at least 250 km/h on lines specially built

for

enabling km/h

high-speed, speeds

to

be

of

while

over

300

reached

in

Figure 1: HST between Frankfurt-Cologne rising above - symbolically - A3 Motorway (Source: DPA)

appropriate circumstances. This speed makes HST competitive

Transport is part of our everyday

with cars and air transport over

life and everyone is concerned

medium

about it. More than 10 million

length

distances

inter-urban transport.

in

people

are

sector,

which

employed

in

produces

this more

than 10% of the EU’s GDP. Other common policies deal with the transport

sector

as

a

major

source of pollution (greenhouse 1

EC Directive 96/58

gases,

acidifying

substances,

ozone

precursors,

particulate

matter, etc.) with large potential

to the high-performance highspeed lines.

in pollution reduction as well as key

9

consumer

of

scarce

The

White

Paper

on

resources. The EU is aware of

transport

traffic-related

revitalization of railways as one

increasing

problems:

occurrence

congestions,

in

2001

set

the

of

of the major goals. The latest

underdeveloped

data shows that the goals are

infrastructure of peripheral and

only

cohesion

increasing

although railways carried more

pollution coming from transport

goods and passengers in the last

and related health problems etc.

years, but the increase of road

The

transport and aviation was much

regions,

European

committed

Commission

to

create

modern,

a

is

safe,

partially

achieved

and

more significant.

economically

competitive,

environmental-

On the contrary to the overall

friendly

socially

decrease

and

sustainable

fair,

transportation

in

transport

share,

high-speed railway network in Europe is considered as a real

system.

success and numerous shining Mostly

road

transport

the

examples show that the revival

European Union has increased to

of railway transport is on the

the

horizon.

detriment

of

of

railway

transport while there is also a air

That is why the White Paper

transport. This is due to the

2011 is intended to give further

European railway network, which

impetus for the development of

is

high-speed

strong

a

competition

mixture

modern.

This

of

with

ancient

contrast

and

ranges

from decrepit countryside lines

railway

and

network

conventional with

ambitious objectives by 2050.

its

This Fiche aims to give a general

also outline the future trends and

overview on the significance of

how this technology can change

high-speed trains including policy

travel habits and contribute to

background, showing the effects

other common policies.

of

past investments of

operating

10

systems

today

through

shining examples. This paper will

as possible, reinforce safety and

Common Transport Policy The

11

facilitate

international

cooperation

by

creating

an

The European Community had no

integrated

effective

Transport

network of European transport.

Policy for the first three decades

The Cohesion Fund budget was

following the Treaty of Rome

created

(1957)

transport

Common

due

to

inefficient

cooperation between the Member States. The

policy

of

and

later

comprehensive

on

for

such

developments

from

Community sources.

making between

“Since the 2001 release of the

member states by facilitating the

White Paper published by the

free movement of individuals and

European

goods

Single Market policy has been

boundaries

through

irrelevant

gained the

Maastricht

momentum Treaty

(1992),

of which

represents a turning point for the Common Transport Policy. The beginning

of

infrastructural

a

real

policy

common is

dated

from this event, when the TransEuropean

Network

was

established. The main purposes of this transport policy are to complete the European Single Market,

support

sustainable

development, extend networks

throughout

transport Europe,

make use of space as efficiently

Commission,

oriented and

the

towards harmoniously

simultaneously

improving

the various modes of transport, in particular with co-modality. In the 2006 revision of the White Paper, the Commission set an aim

at

increasing

competitiveness

the

of

railway,

improving

transport

systems

operating

with

the

latest

technology, introducing charges for the

use

of

infrastructure,

supporting alternative propulsion vehicles and elaborating methods to reduce congestion.�

As

12

proclaimed

in

the

White

relatively higher growth rate of

Paper on Transport in 2001,

economic development of EU-12

the EU is devoted to decouple

changes gradually the transport

the growth of GDP from the

figures. The integration of the

growth of transport related to it.

EU-12 to the EU-15 changed the

Due to the continuous increase in

direction of trade, and therefore

transport

the

the

demand,

decoupling

of

economy

direction

transport,

which

and

has shifted from the Eastwards

transport does not seem to be

to the Westwards, just like trade

realized. Despite the fact that

is shifting from domestic market

there

to

are

spreading

examples best

practices

sustainable

and in

transportation,

unfortunately

the

international.

restructuring transport

of

from

The

industry large

bulk

and to

technological

smaller bulk give priority to the

shift seems to be slower and not

more flexible and reliable road

even

transport

enough

to

balance

the

instead

of

railroad,

growth of demand deriving from

while in passenger transport the

the

The

liberalization of civil aviation and

ongoing trends project the rapid

the extension of the motorway

growth of motorization in the EU-

network increased considerably

12

to

increase

countries;

of

users.

therefore

the

gradual change of modal split will be similar to EU-15 countries.

Future projections and existing experiences show the prevailing of road transport and aviation to the detriment of railroad.

The

EU

enlargement

extension of Schengen borders,

detriment

of

railway

transport.

The ongoing trends (increasing modal split of aviation and road transport) do not contribute to other horizontal policies of the EU

and

the

on

agenda

environmental

(sustainability, protection,

climate and energy issues).

Furthermore, the transport policy

Transport 2050 Strategy which

of EU-12 enhances the increase

aims at creating a competitive

of

transport

road

transport

infrastructure

13

by

and

new

system

that

will

generated

increase mobility, remove major

traffic. This approach is neither

barriers in key areas and fuel

sustainable

growth and employment. This

nor a

viable

way

concerning the trends, therefore

strategy

sustainable,

described

in

the

environmental

Transport 2011 White Paper for a

impact-minimizing solutions have

Roadmap to a Single European

taken place while meeting the

Transport Area.

mobility demand of people.

Key objectives set by European Already in the 2006 revision, the

Transport 2050 Strategy:

revitalization of railway transport and

linking

modes

was

it

up

with

given

other



special

No more conventionally fuelled cars in cities;

attention. The railway system fell behind in the competition (modal



40% use of sustainable low

split shrunk to 10.5% in freight,

carbon fuels in aviation and at

6%

least

in

among

passenger transport

transport) modes

and

40%

cut

in

shipping

emissions;

faces several problems to be solved, even as railway transport is alive and will be an integrated, non-negligible

part

of

the

European transport system.



A 50% shift of medium distance intercity passenger and freight journeys from road to rail and waterborne transport;

The European Commission has presented on 28th March, 2011 the

EU's

comprehensive



Overall 60% cut in transport

8.6% compared to 6.3% of the

emissions by the middle of the

railways in 2008.

century.

The

The clear vision of the European

European

Commission

continues opening the

14

market

and moves closer to a single transport

system

attention

to

with

special

interoperability

among the different modes of

Commission is to raise the modal split of railways and create an intermodal, well-functioning and energy-efficient system.

transport

Therefore,

the

completion of the TEN-T network is vital, parallel to creating new,

transport.

high-quality

capacities

to

Large investments are needed to

increase market share in many

change the actual infrastructure

fields namely medium-distance

towards

sustainable

traffic both on passenger and

which

freight transport.

a

optimized modal

more one

split

is

in

more

the

diverse

among the transport players. In 2008, 45.9% of freight traffic was on road, compared to the 10.8%

and

3.6%

share

of

railways and inland waterways, respectively.

The passenger transport market is even more distorted, where passenger cars make up 72.5%, while

aviation

gradually

is

increasing

having part

a

with

lines, integrated aviation and rail

The European Union is on track – development of high-speed network

transport services, connections

rail

and systems. There is a large

It is almost two centuries after the first train ran in the world,

15

ever since railways are still a means of transport with major potential. potential

The is

use

the

key

of in

this the

renewal of the railways therefore in achieving modal rebalance in transport. Today it is a mixture of ancient and modern elements.

On the one hand, high-speed network

provides

high

quality

service while on the other hand, slow,

rail

infrastructure,

therefore the EU continues its efforts which have started in the last decade. The priority is to build

new

tracks

to

capacity

to free

freight

transport.

increase

up

lines for Adequate

comfort and services could be provided by upgrading existing lines with the latest technology, instead

of

building

new lines

which is evidently more costly.

Already in 2001, the White Paper

freight trains crawl in suburban

for transport set the priority to

or even in remote countryside

revitalize

regions.

market-share, the

commuter

high-speed

and

With

crowded

emphasis on the development of

EU

enlargement

distances are increasing among centers at opposite ends of the European

Union,

which

an

effective high-speed passenger network could shrink. Such a network comprises of high-speed railway lines, including upgraded

railways

to

reduce

double pollution

by 50%, and increase efficiency by

50%

by

the

end

of

the

decade. One of the major results was the partial creation of the rail

market.

Some

problems

solved, new challenges came, and still more effort should be put into creating interoperability

among the railway systems of

developing multimodal transport

member states.

corridors.

The

TEN-T

focuses

very closely on the development The programme for the

European

Transport

Networks

16

Trans-

(TEN-T)

is

designed to guarantee optimum

of high-speed transport. Out of the

30

priority

projects

put

forward under this programme, 14 concern high-speed rail lines.

mobility and coherence between

Further

the various modes of transport in

speed railway network belongs to

the Union as introduced under

the reassuring plans of the EU in

the Treaty of Maastricht. The

creating a sustainable transport

main

system. This aims at creating an

priorities

of

this policy,

development

of

high-

which accounts for a large part

environmental

of the White Paper on transport

competitor

and

policy are to establish the key

complementary

of

links

transport and aviation in intercity

needed

to

facilitate

transport, optimize the capacity of

existing

specifications

for

network

interoperability

and

the

environmental

passenger transport.

The

existence

extension

of

and

to

achieve

the

objectives of the Lisbon Strategy (increase

gradual

high-speed

rail

network proved to be successful

(London-Paris, order

motorized

in changing people’s travel habits

dimension.

In

both

infrastructure,

produce

integrate

friendly

competitiveness

of railways.

and

create new jobs), the European

The

Union has launched the TEN-T

Transport

project,

2011

which

aims

Madrid-Seville)

and this could lead to the revival

at

recently

-

published

White

Paper

Transport

2050

Strategy

entails

ambitious

points

sufficiently connected to the

several

rail

concerning

freight

and,

possible, inland

railways and high-speed railway:

where

waterway

system. 

17

By

2050,

complete

a

European high-speed rail

Already

network. Triple the length

examples

to

of the existing high-speed

transport

routes,

rail network (6214 km at

speed

the end of 2009) by 2030

alternative to aviation in terms of

and

time, price and comfort such as

maintain

railway

a

network

dense in

all

the

today

there

follow

trains

on

many

where

high-

offer

London-Paris

are

a

and

real

Madrid-

Member States. By 2050

Seville lines. The EU encourages

the

high-speed

majority

of

distance

mediumpassenger

transport should go by rail.

train

operators,

airlines and airport managers to use to synergies of both means of transport and to cooperate



A fully functional and EU-

while

wide multimodal TEN-T

transport hubs at airport and

‘core network’ by 2030,

integration of both systems are

with

the

a

high

quality

and

capacity network by 2050

competing.

favorable

Intermodal

ways

of

cooperation.

and a corresponding set of

Yes

information services.

to

railways! 

By 2050, connect all core network airports to the rail

network,

preferably

high-speed; ensure that all core

seaports

are

The

high-speed

But why?

history

of

high-speed

railways in Europe is dating back to 1977 when Italy introduced the first high-speed railway line

between Rome and Florence, but

operators make large efforts to

the

create the first trans-European

real

technological

breakthrough

was

inauguration

18

of

the

high-speed

HSL, between Cologne,

Paris, Brussels,

Amsterdam

and

railway line between Paris and

London, an effort already close

Lyon with TGV (Train Ă Grande

to completion. This could set a

Vitesse) HSTs. Germany joined

good example for interoperable

the venture in the early 1990s

lines.

with the ICE (InterCity Express), then Spain by the AVE (Alta Velocidad

Espanola)

in

1992.

Today, newly built special track technology is mainly reviving in France,

Germany,

Spain,

Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, while in Great-Britain, Sweden and some parts of Germany still use the upgraded conventional tracks. Although the mixture of technologies, Union

is

the

technology speed

the

train

European

world

provider

Figure 2: Increase in HSLs in Europe in km (1995-2009)

leader

in

It

is

not

easy

to

compare

high-

different modes of transport, but

and

among many factors (distance,

technology,

makes continuous technological

time,

price,

comfort,

and

progress to maintain this position

environmental

impacts)

one

amid increasing competition.

decisive factor is time. Highspeed trains travel at a speed of

Each year, the European HSL is

200-350 km/h in Europe. This

getting

enables them to be the fastest

longer

and

HS

rail

mode

on

definite

distances.

According to studies, high-speed trains

are

the

fastest

on

distances between 150 and 800 km

in

door

to

door

journey

times. Below 150 km they are

19

less competitive with road or conventional

rail

travel,

but

between 150 and 400 km the conventional and high-speed rail offers

faster

airlines,

while

travel for

against journeys

between 400 and 800 km highspeed rail is preferred over air and road travel. Above 800 km air travel takes over high-speed rail, but the difference is still not decisive and this difference is increasing distance.

moderately

with

Figure 3: Journey times vs distance for rail (HS and conventional lines) and air transport

Close

cross-border cooperation

of high-speed line operators is getting

more

important

in

and

more

medium-distance

cross-border journeys and it is related to the competitiveness of high-speed lines such as in case of

Paris-London-Brussels-

Amsterdam-Cologne, see figure below.

The development of the highspeed

network

distances

shrunk

between

the

Western

European cities as shown in the

Environmental

figure below.

of high-speed trains Fighting

impact

climate

change,

developing a trans-European HSL network is one of the European Union’s main objectives. Highspeed passenger transport will

20

allow high levels of mobility to be

maintained,

while

guaranteeing the sustainability of

the

European

transport

system. This global issue is on Figure 4: Journey times between stations 1989-2009

the political and social agenda,

Apart from the time factor, high-

attraction to rail transport due to

speed trains provide unrivalled

its

passenger comfort. The interior

Transport accounts for 25.1% of

of the carriages is designed to

EU-27 CO 2 emissions. Out of this

create a relaxing environment

only 0.6% is from rail transport

suitable

both from passenger and freight

both

relaxation.

for

work

High-speed

and trains

therefore,

low

it

transport

(excluding

emissions

large individual space, internet,

consumption).

headrest, folding tables, onboard restaurant, radio and television services,

and

the

unlimited

possibility to use mobile phones.

further

environmental

offer onboard services such as

power socket for electric devices,

gives

from

impact.

indirect electricity

ratio of nuclear and renewable electricity generation is higher.

In

case

of

not

taking

into

account the indirect emissions from electricity generation, CO2 emissions (grams per passenger-

21

kilometre) is 2.7 for high-speed trains compared to 153 g/pkm for air and 115.7 g/pkm for car Figure 5: CO2 emissions by mode of transport in the EU-27 (Source: EU energy and transport in figures 2010)

Today,

high-speed

trains

in

Europe use only electricity and their direct local CO 2 emissions are almost zero in their operation zones,

though

CO2

emitted

during electricity production has to

be

taken

into

account,

on a Paris-Marseille journey.

Several

studies

CO2

emitted

infrastructure, not only the CO2 emitted indirectly by operation.

examined

depends

on

the

the

during the construction of the

Von

therefore

during

production of the rolling stock,

not zero. The

impact

to

the whole life-cycle including also

therefore their carbon footprint is climate

emphasize

reflect the carbon-footprint on

Rozycki the

et

al.

(2003)

environmental

effects of the InterCity Express

primary energy source used for

(ICE)

on

electricity generation. This varies

route

between

among countries may be higher

Wuerzburg. In this section, 14%

in countries where mostly fossil

of total energy use is related to

fuels

the

are

used

for

electricity

generation, and lower where the

traffic

the

high-speed

rail

Hannover

and

infrastructure

and

about 25% of the CO 2 emissions,

which is in total 69.4 g CO2-

Commission

equivalent per pkm.

different measures at the EU level

The

carbon-footprint

from

country

to

changes

country

and

track section to track section

22

because of the different variables that

make

up

this

indicator.

Therefore, it is hard

to give

universal estimation. The carbon footprint of electricity generation of the rolling stock and of the track

system

has

numerous

variables such energy mix used for

electricity

generation,

topography, share of bridge and tunnels,

life-span

infrastructure,

of

maintenance

of

that

has

devised

concerning

harmonisation assessment

the

of

and

noise

management,

market access requirements for certain vehicles and equipment etc. Railway industry measures cover

infrastructure

operators

(e.g. the acoustic grinding of rails, noise barriers, speed limits at night) and

train

(e.g. replacement of

operators cast-iron

brakes with low-noise composite materials).

Newly

high-speed

train

constructed tracks

are

mostly built with noise barriers along sensitive areas.

traffic infrastructure and rolling stock, load factor etc. are all important factors to be taken into account. From this point of view,

French

railways

use

electricity coming from nuclear energy, while Italy and Germany use solid fuel, gas, oil mix for electricity production.

Transport-created attention

of

The demand for mobility grows year by year, and in absolute value passenger rail transport grew by about 2.1% between 1990

and

2008.

Since

other

modes of transport grew even faster, therefore the modal split

noise

the

Growing demand

raised

European

of railways in EU-27 shrunk to 6.3% by 2008. However, this

value masked the considerable

growth in passenger transport is

disparity in performance between

driven

the EU-15, which, taken as a

availability

whole, has experienced strong

affordable modes in transport.

primarily of

by

the

faster

and

volume growth (33.8%), and the EU-12 which has experienced a

23

severe

decline

in

passenger

volumes (62%), but since 2005 they shows signs of stabilization.

Since the first high-speed line was

introduced

in

Italy,

the

number of passengers opting for this

mode

continuously

of

transport increased.

has The

passenger volume on all EU-12 lines increased from 15.2 billion pkm in 1990 to 92.33 billion pkm in 2008.

Figure 6: Total rail passenger traffic volume (M passenger-km) 1990-2008 (Source: EU energy and transport in figures 2010)

The

growing

demand

for

passenger rail transport is due to the appearance of high-quality service. High-speed rail networks have

been

successful

Figure 7: High-speed and conventional passenger volume trends 1990-2008 (M passenger-km) (Source: Eurostat)

in

increasing the use of rail by

The

attracting entirely new traffic to

investment in high-speed rail on

impact of

rail both as a result of capturing

total rail use can be most clearly

traffic from air and road but also

seen in France, a country which

by generating new traffic. The

has

developed

the

successful

the

most

extensive network

high-speed that

rail through

high-speed

overtaken

trains reached a 24% market share within rail transport. The

with

relative trends in high-speed and

greatest

volume

of

passenger traffic by 2003.

conventional showing

24

which

Germany as the Member State the

has

rail

The

figure

below

shows

the

relative trends of high-speed and

rail

use

the

in

EU,

increasing

importance of high-speed rail to Europe’s railway industry.

conventional traffic in France.

States that have invested heavily in

high-speed

rewarded volumes

rail have

with of

been

considerable

traffic

on

HSR

networks. In 2008, high-speed formed 61.9% of total passenger rail traffic in France, 28.5% in Figure 8: High-speed and conventional rail passenger traffic volume (M passenger-km) 1990-2008 (Source: EU energy and transport in figures 2010)

Several countries are investing heavily in rail infrastructure for high-speed passenger services or to

expand

provide networks.

capacity new Between

and

to

high-speed 1990

and

2008 the overall volume of rail passenger traffic increased by 33.3 % driven by an increase of 253% in the use of high-speed

Germany,

27.2%

in

Sweden,

22.9% in Spain, and 17.8% in Italy.

Almost

wherever

HSR

services have been provided they are

providing

an

increasing

proportion of total rail use as well.

Network extension According

to forecasts in

the

TEN-T programme, the TransEuropean

high-speed

network

will be 22,140 km long overall by

2020, compared with 9,693 km

south-east, the centre and the

in 2008. By 2030, once the high-

south-west of Europe.”

speed

TEN-T

has

been

completed, the network will have

Several countries plan network

a length of 30,750 km.

extension

projects:

Spain,

Portugal, Poland, Sweden, and

25

“In order to fully develop a Trans-

the United Kingdom as well as

European high-speed line hub,

third countries.

several

priority

projects

are

devoted to the north-south link between Southwest

networks.

European

The high-

speed rail axis will link the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe in a fully interoperable

An upgraded line to 220km/h will provide

railway

link

between

Helsinki and St. Petersburg and this will reduce journey time and it will be able to cope with the increasing

forecasted

traffic

volumes.

network. The vital north-south corridor through the Alps (Berlin–

Turkey is building its own high-

Verona–Milan–Bologna–Naples–

speed network partially financed

Messina–Palermo axis) will link

by the EU. The first section was

major German and Italian cities.

opened in March 2009 between

/

Ankara and Eskisehir and it will

The

Lyon-

Trieste–Divača

Koper–Divača–LjubljanaBudapest–Ukrainian border axis, which crosses this corridor at

reach

Istanbul

extension

with

halving

the

further total

journey time.

right angles, will be able to

Another three lines are already

absorb some of the constantly

being planned: Ankara – Konya,

increasing traffic between the

Ankara – Sivas and Istanbul– Bulgarian frontier.

This trend can only to increase as further high-speed rail lines are

commissioned:

Turkey

opened its first high-speed line in 2009, Austria and Switzerland are also constructing lines to

26

allow them to join the “highspeed club�, further high-speed lines are under construction in Spain,

France,

Germany

and

Italy, and lines are planned in a number of other states.

examples and strategies in Europe

leading position other new high-

In

best

been built to the same speed,

practices are introduced how a

voltage and signaling standards,

new

though

Shining this

chapter

or

some

upgraded

HSL

speed rail lines in Europe have

could

change travel habits.

27

TGV

France It

was

France

technological high-speed

that

led

the

breakthrough railways.

high-speed

line

in

reality

interoperability

The

was

of first

opened

trains

border.

The

due

issues,

to

not

all

can

cross

every

first

cross-border

high-speed line was connected to the

completion

of

Channel

Tunnel and complete high-speed infrastructure between

travel

Paris

and

time London

between Paris and Lyon in 1981.

dropped by the Eurostar from 5h

Today

12min to 2h 15min as well as

the

French

high-speed and

from Brussels to London from 4h

densely

52min to 1h 51min. This gave

network

is Paris-centered

reaches

the

largest,

populated areas in France (Lyon,

the

Marseille, Lille, Toulouse etc.).

advantage that on each line the

The total network accounts for

market share rose to 68 and

1,897

63%

km

(December

2010)

high-speed

rail

respectively.

so

The

Thalys

which is the second largest in

international

Europe.

brought Paris closer to Brussels

spreading

The

TGV

out

network beyond

is the

high-speed

much

train

merely to 1:22 away.

borders into other countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Due

to

central

Western

Europe

position and

on early

The

French

(nicknamed

high-speed the

train,

Concorde of

railways), the TGV, changed travel

habits

and

sometimes

radically

changed

modal

split

two steps from Lyon to Valence

between major cities. Today the

in 1994, and since 2001 the

market share of TGVs on Paris-

whole route is served by high-

Lyon line is taking over 90% in

speed tracks.

the air-rail travel market due to less than two hours travel, and

28

the market share is about 60% in corridors where travel time is around three hours. The ParisMarseille line has about 66% market

share,

and

good

connection with CDG airport only

Today the average journey time with

TGV

is

approximately

3

hours, while the scheduled flight time

from

Charles

de

Gaulle

airport is 1 hour 25 minutes. In 1999 45 flights, today only 26 flights per day operate from Paris to Marseille compared to the 17

in 3 hours.

trains.

easyJet attempted to

provide low-cost airline service on this route, but then it stopped operating after a year in 2005.

According to estimations, 66% of rail and air traffic is by highspeed trains between the two destinations today. One reason Figure 6: TGV high-speed train (Source: www.presstv.ir)

could be the app. €60 price for a

Since the opening of first high-

half the price of the airplane fare

speed line between Paris and

on

Lyon, Marseille has been served

quality

by TGV, from Lyon to Marseille

better on TGVs and on iDTGVs

via

(“interactive

conventional

tracks.

The

high-speed line was extended in

single one-way TGV fare which is

average. On-board provided

is

service

generally

Relaxation

High-

speed Train”) than on airplanes.

29

In addition, great advantage of

comparable journey times due to

TGVs is the air-rail connection at

high-quality

Paris

comfortable,

Charles

de

Gaulle

service

and

much

better

International Airport; moreover,

terminals

the

located), and limitations on air

intermodality

facilitated

by

agreement

with

is

further

code

share

the

largest

airlines.

The greatest competitor of highspeed rail could be the low-cost airlines, although they face two problems, which makes them fall behind in this competition. Due to slot constraint, they do not get enough slots at Paris Orly and the charges at Paris airports are

relatively

high,

therefore

they cannot be real competitors of high-speed rail services.

The

development

of

Paris-

Marseille high-speed line was in fact the extension of the 1981 Paris-Lyon line and still this line has

further

extension

perspectives towards the French Riviera, to Nice. Today, TGVs achieved higher share than on other

European

routes

with

are

(more

reliable

competition service.

Germany The German high-speed network varies

significantly

from

the

French one. The geographically

30

distributed political demand and denser

and

more

evenly

distributed population resulted in Germany connecting more cities than France, therefore

it has

90% after shrinking the journey time to 1:10.

Due to its central location and important within project, speed

transport

the

Germany line

corridors

boundaries

TEN-T

many

high-

developments

are

going on lately Berlin-Innsbruck, Saarbr端cken-Mannheim

lines,

Stuttgart-Ulm.

more stops. The political demand and

constitutional

obligations2

German

railways

put

on

neighboring countries by ICE and

upgrading existing lines than

plans go even further. It has now

building new high-speed lines,

daily

therefore the whole high-speed

Amsterdam,

rail network has a mixture of

Copenhagen, Zurich, Vienna and

both types of tracks. The fastest

in the near future to London as

section of the network is at a

well.

speed

of

300

emphasis

km/h

between

Frankfurt airport and Cologne by ICE.

The

ICE

took

over

the

market over airplanes on this section with market share above

2

Article 87, German Constitution

connection

almost

good

connection

more

to

have

made German governments to

to

all

Paris, Brussels,

31

Figure 7: ICE train at the Cologne station (Source: www.aito.co.uk)

intermediate stations. Lufthansa

The

high-

despite the strong competitor,

speed line was opened in 2002

and operates some flights, which

and sets a good example for

have scheduled journey times of

linking densely populated urban

40-45 minutes. Today 4 flights,

areas

European

nearly 50 high-speed trains, a

airports by high-speed rail. The

dozen of conventional trains, and

ICE takes the 177 km distance in

hundreds

approximately

Frankfurt-Cologne distance daily.

Cologne-Frankfurt

and

major

1

hour

10

kept some daily airlines in use

of

cars

take

the

minutes. In addition, this is one of

the

two

high-speed

rail

services where through baggage handling is offered for air/rail passengers, and where there is through

ticketing

between

air

and rail. The main competitors of ICE are not classical and lowcost airlines, rather the cars in the ‘country of Autobahn’. In approximately

2

hours

it

is

possible to take this trip by car, while

if

two or more

people

travel together, it is cheaper than

high-speed

train.

As mentioned before, high-speed network in Germany is a mixed network of both passenger and freight transport. This is a unique section in this network, because it is restricted only to passenger traffic.

The ICE prices range from €39 to €110, while conventional trains offer a 35% discount compared to ICE. Air link is most likely to be provided between €108 and €418.

The

previous, ‘classic’ rail route along

Despite the great difference in

the Rhine is still in use to provide

prices, the stated reliability for

cheaper, but longer journey for

long-distance trains is 85% to

travellers

arrive within 5 minutes of their

and

to

serve

published time, while 83% in case of Lufthansa to arrive within 15 minutes of their published time.

High-speed rail carrying 97% of

32

all passengers on the FrankfurtCologne route and therefore has a

dominant

market

share,

although prior to the high-speed line the market share of rail already considerably high, 8085%.

Spain The

longest

high-speed

railway network of Europe is found in Spain with 2,665 km

33

(2nd longest after China). Spain has serious plans to extend the network by 10,000 km between

including

the

Madrid-Barcelona

and the Madrid-Valencia line.

The first AVE line to France was opened 2010 December and by 2012 train to Paris from Madrid trains

will

changing

operate

gauge,

just

without like

to

Lisbon.

2010 and 2020, so that 90% of its inhabitants would reach a high-speed train station within 50 km of their homes and from all

provincial

capitals

Madrid

could be reached within 3 hours.

Spain had track gauge problems with the continental connection (France), and the new lines were built up to European standards.

The

interoperability

of

the

Spanish high-speed trains (AVE) on conventional tracks is solved by

special

AVE

trains

with

interchangeable gauges. The first line was inaugurated in 1992 between Madrid and Seville that ended up to be a real success with seizing 83% of the market between the two cities. Six other lines have been opened since

Figure 8: AVE high-speed trains (Source: www.raileurope.com)

The

first

HSL

inaugurated

in

just

Spain

was

before

the

Seville World Expo in 1992 after 1986 decision to build the line.

The curiosity of the line is that it operates

on

infrastructure,

totally according

new to

standard European gauge unlike the

Spanish

conventional

rail

network. The average journey time is approximately 2 hours 30

34

minutes linking Madrid, Seville

passengers carried by the train,

and cities in between (Ciudad

mostly

Real, Puertollano, Córdoba).

budget travelers.

The opening of the HSL changed

Although

the travel habits fundamentally

journey time is 1 hour by classic

between

air services and costs €140 on

the

two

conventional

cities.

The

competitors:

concentrating

average,

the

on

low-

scheduled

depending

on

air

many

airplane (from 42% to 16%), car

conditions. Only Iberia Airlines

(from 23% to 21%), bus (from

have

4% to 5%) and conventional rail

Seville to the central hub in

(from 33% to 1%) fell behind in

Madrid. Low-cost airlines are not

the competition against the new

operating on this route.

direct

connection

from

high-speed train by 2000. The main

competitor,

air

traffic

shrank to 20% share from 70% in

air/rail

competition

and

railways took over with the help

Traditionally, buses are the main of

long

distance

public

transport in Spain. Prior to the opening

of

the

HSL,

more

passengers travelled by bus on this route than by train. On the Madrid-Seville route it takes 6 hours and costs €17 for one-way ticket. Still today, buses carry 20%

are

Talgo

200

trains,

which offer cheaper tickets than AVE, but provide a bit slower service

between

the

two

destinations.

of AVE.

mode

There

of

the

number

of

Despite high-speed rail being the most expensive mode on this route (a standard one-way ticket for costs €50-70), it has the highest modal share with 58%.

The reason for this high share according to the operator - is due to the shortest journey time in point-to-point travel and the approximately 100% punctuality

of

the

operator

service. offers

The a

AVE’s

punctuality

promise, which in fact means that if a train is more than 5 minutes late, the entire cost of the ticket is refunded. Less than

35

0.3%

of

refunded.

tickets The

have AVE

to

be

on-board

services provide equivalent or better than on airplanes.

The first Spanish high-speed line proved to be successful and this success gave place for further high-speed rail development in other parts of Spain.

More information at: http://www.renfe.com http://www.sncf.com http://www.bahn.de

Comparison of three

in

national projects

literally a full line with 471 km

In

this

section

the

above-

a

longer

line

or

system,

cost 2.7 billion Euro.

mentioned three projects will be compared. These projects are, but it is interesting to find the

36

common points in them. Above all, the most important common feature is that all of them are a real success stories.

General description

The shortest line of them all is the Frankfurt-Cologne line with its 177 km, which cost 6 billion Euros

according

to

Figure 9: Frankfurt-Cologne high-speed rail line (Source: WIkipedia)

Railway track

Deutsche

Bahn. This line is part of the

All three lines were built with the

Western

European

European

high-speed

standard

gauge

many

(1,435mm) and both are double-

countries. The extension of the

tracks. This fact is only worth

LGV Sud-Est and LGV Rhône-

mentioning in the case of Spain,

Alpes, the LGV Méditerranée is

where conventional tracks are of

244 km long and cost 3.8 billion

different gauge, and this line was

Euros. By the extension of the

the first to use the European

line, TGV trains can run from

standards

Paris to Marseille strictly on high-

interoperability of trains on the

speed line. The Seville-Madrid

European Single Market.

rail

network

connecting

line is more than a single section

which

will

help

line gives a good example for interoperability

of

European

systems, just like the gauge, the electric system on conventional lines is different from the newly Figure 10: ICE train passing by (Source: iStockphoto)

37

built high-speed lines.

Highest possible speed On each line, high-speed trains can reach speed of 300 km/h, which is often, such as in these cases, the operation speed of newly

built

high-speed

rail

infrastructures.

Electrification system The Madrid-Seville and the ParisMarseilles lines are built with 25 kV 50 Hz electric systems, in contrast

with

the

Frankfurt-

Figure 11: Madrid-Seville railway line in the Adamuz- Venta de InĂŠs section (Source: www.groupovimac.com)

Regions and cities served There are plenty of regions and

Cologne, which uses 15 kV 16.7

cities

Hz electric systems. The latter

construction of these high-speed

creates interoperability problems

lines.

in the liberalized European rail market, though the latest train engines are prepared to take into account the different national rail electric

systems.

The

Spanish

The

which

benefit from

Frankfurt-Cologne

speed

line

connects

the

high-

not

only

large German cities, but also densely

populated

regions.

Moreover, this railway line brings

other parts of the world closer with

quick

Frankfurt and

accessibility

International

Köln/Bonn

of

Figure 125: Frankfurt Airport Railway Station (Source: Wikipedia)

Airport

Airport.

This

project serves as a best practice for intermodality between air and

38

rail transport.

The

high-speed

rail line links: Frankfurt Main Station–

Frankfurt

Airport

–

Siegburg/Bonn – Cologne Main Station. Almost all trains stop at these stations, while some stop at Montabaur and Limburg Süd.

On weekdays, there are nearly 50 ICE trains from Frankfurt to Cologne out of which 7 connects Cologne

Airport and

Frankfurt

Airport directly in about an hour trip, otherwise one change is required

with

short

stopover

from one airport to the other.

Figure 16. Frankfurt Airport - Train Station A3 Motorway complex from bird's-eye view (Source: www.fnp.de)

The main purpose of the MadridSeville line is to provide a fast link between the capital of the country

and

the

centre

of

Andalusia, also linking greater cities along the route. The line has 22 high-speed trains daily per

direction.

stations

are

In

between

Ciudad

Real,

Puertollano, and Toledo. Out of 22 only three trains run just between the two destinations, 19 stop in Cordoba as well, while 8 stop also in Ciudad Real and Puertollano.

The

difference

among different trains with more stops is only 10-10 minutes.

Along the Paris-Marseilles line there are 13 direct and 7 indirect trains per direction on weekdays.

There are some shuttle trains between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Marseille

39

some

Saint-Charles, connect

the

while two

destinations with Avignon and fewer

with

Aix-en-Provence.

Indirect trains link Valence and Lyon.

The Spanish and the French lines intend to connect greater regions and cities, while the German example connects also smaller cities in between the two final stations to the high-speed rail system.

OUTLOOK

ON

RESEARCH

ERRAC3 roadmap The European railway sector is

What’s next?

facing

challenges,

increasing The European Union can only

40

mainatain

its

world

leading

position in field of high-speed rail technology,

if

R&D

processes

and

the

including

competitiveness

attractiveness

transport

in

of

terms

of

rail speed,

availability, comfort, punctuality and reliability.

back these intentions.

These challenges could be met by maintaining and environmental increasing

improving

performance,

capacity,

enhancing

infrastructure and to maintain The

Seventh

Framework

Programme runs several project which aim at improving the rail

the

green

compared

economic to

other

profile transport

modes.

transport in many fields. Within rail

transport

projects,

some

The

ERRAC roadmap

was

deals with high-speed rail, or the

created to coordinate different

project concern high-speed rail

rail related research activities.

besides conventional rail. These

Its

projects

strategic plan and then turn it

aim

at

improving

interoperability, safety, reducing cost

and

making

main

goal

is

to

draft

into reality by 2020.

railways

sustainable. Urban sociology and making

specific

methodologies

are also part of the Seventh Framework Programmes.

3

European Rail Research Advisory Council

a

Main

issues by

which

ERRAC

roadmap deals with are: 

holistic

rail

“Environmental Specifications for new Rolling Stock”).

strategies

minimalise costs (operation, environmental maintenance

41

inspection costs); 

simple

and

economical

infrastructure

reconstruction

and maintenance; 

Improved

real-time

information

system

for

stakeholders

(rail operator,

infrastructure

managers,

customers); 

Addressing customers’ needs by coordinating public and private bodies.

The

environmental

railways has issue

with

These guidelines include whole life-cycle

approach

infrastructure

already

procurement

process.

for

the

in

the

Climate

change, natural resources and chemicals are main points to

impact

of

always been

an

methodological

uncertainties. This is what the INFRAGUIDER is about to give clear guidelines for creating an effective environmental impact of the infrastructure, after having done the same process by the rolling stock (UIC leaflet 345

consider

along

railway

evaluation.

evaluation

environmental

phase

procurement

In of

model

environmental

the eco-

specific indicators

(Supplier and Product indicators) Each

element

of

the

infrastructure is examined along such specific points and assessed at the end.

The

WOLAXIM

project

EURAXLES is a similar project to the

WOLAXIM

incorporates is intended to increase reliability

42

topics.

though

wider

The

range

European

of Rail

of rail traffic. A normal axle of a

Association lead project has axle

train is designed for more than

manufacturers,

20

operators,

years.

Although

current

trends show that these must be

technology

withdrawn

to

universities,

For

associations

earlier

unexpected

due

corrosion.

railway

system

operators, suppliers,

and

rail

sector

a

consulting

previous inspection methods the

firm among the 23 members of

trains had to be taken out of

the

traffic and the methods were not

EURAXLES is to minimise the

precise

enough.

fatigue failure of railway axles in

This research project gives better

order to ensure safe operation of

methods of crack detection and

the

corrosion assessment for railway

railway system while reducing

axle inspection. One method is

cost of maintenance and level of

specifically for the hollow axles

service

of high speed trains and aims to

minimum.

improve

complex concept from the design

and

detailed

the

inspection

speed

and

of

improve

the crack

detection reliability. This could be deployed while the train is in depot

at

night

and

without

dismantling of the wheel set.

This method is convenient for the train operator, energy and costeffective at once.

of

consortium.

European

The

of

interoperable

disruption The

axles,

aim

to

project

the has

production

a

and

maintenance.

A

new

design

approach

is

developed including risk analysis method

with

method

to

probability.

simple

design

predict

failure

The new developments include: improved axle protection



against corrosion, improved adhesion of coating, and innovative coating solutions in order to limit or avoid

43

VOC emissions; 

manufactured.

Algorithms

are

developed

to

predict rail defect evolutions, and find

the

optimal

schedule

for

maintenance

preventive

and

corrective operations.

Improved NDT in-service inspection method;



condition and prototypes will be

RAMS/LCC analysis of the outcome of the project will be performed.

New tools will be developed on order to monitor the corrective and

preventive

tasks.

The

maintenance

monitoring

maintenance

tasks

of are

automated and optimized and

ACEM-Rail

executed with mobile computers. project is about the

automation and optimisation of both speed

conventional railway

and

high-

The results of the project will be: 

of

maintenance

costs;

infrastructure

focusing on the track.

reduction



less

disturbance

of

rail

services; 

increased quality, reliability and safety;



increase of rail transport;



reduction of CO2 emissions.

Numerous technologies will be developmed for automated, cost-

The European railways after long

effective inspection of the track

decline have started to increase slowly, while the rolling stocks

changed with time. Faster and

partially

heavier axle loads are rolling on

Framework Programme.

the

European

means

new

railways,

challenges

funded

by

Seventh

which to

be

met. Some catastrophic failure of wheel

44

or

axle

may

lead

to

serious fatal derailment accident such as the greatest high-speed rail accident in 1998 at Eschede.

The main topic is to promote interoperability physical

by

testing

replacing

process

by

virtual simulations and simplified authorisation

process

through

mix of testing and simulations.

1)

AeroTRAIN project aims

at: reducing costs and time of

SAFERAIL

is intended to keep

certification on aerodynamics by

wheelset failures to the minimum

harmonising

by developing and implementing

national standards of high-speed

an on-line system for inspection

and conventional rail’s technical

of axles and wheels of trains in

specification for interoperability.

motion

combined

with

an

ultrasonic-electromagnetic

of

new

and

and

New technologies would replace cross-wind and slipstream tests by

system. This way the quality inspection

European

old

wheelsets during production and maintenance will be faster and

new alternatives.

2)

DynoTRAIN project aims

at limiting cost of the certification by improving cross-acceptance of

more reliable.

track tests in railway dynamics

Trio-TRAIN integrated

is

a

cluster

reasearch

of

projects

with some innovations: 

the characterisation of the irregularities of the track;



the

characterisation

of

contact geometry of wheel and rail; 



European railway system.

The project aims to:

the determination of the 

friction coefficient;

45

contribute largely to a competitive

the

based

cross-

certification

on

numerical

simulations and Hardware-

acceptance.

EN

the

process by new procedures

the use of simulation to facilitate

extend

in-the-Loop testing;

standards

on

railway



use physical and numerical

dynamics together with relevant

simulation

technical annexes of the high

homologation

speed technical specification for

catenary systems;

interoperability

prolong

the



facilitate

to

extend

to

the

different

use

of

certification process. Moreover,

innovative and mechatronic

the test do not map all operating

panthographs

conditions and these tests must

understanding

be repeated several times to give

systems



is

The PantoTRAIN project about

which

problem

to

is

interoperability, country

has

the

one

stock

because

each

its

own

system

developed

with

mechanical

properties.

panthographs/catenaries to

major

rolling

different The

approval of a unified method could

use simulated behaviour of new/modified

panthograph/catenary

system,

to

of

homologisation process;

reliable outcome.

3)

by needs

those already certified by line tests; 

facilitate

the

use

of

HIL

(Hardware-in-the-Loop) testing as a less expensive and

more

objective

alternative to line tests.

based

Results

on

20%

environmental

performance, 40% quality, 40%

46

All the above mentioned projects

price.

A

are running under the European

could mean a rewarding system,

Commission’s

Seventh

which weighs the three factors

Framework

Programme

above

sustainability

policy

mandatory-demands

of

the product.

and, except for one, they are in execution phase. In the following

Different environmentally related

I will present the results of the

technical

finished INFRAGUIDER project.

materials and components are

specifications

Environmental

called Although railways is considered a green transport mode, it has negative

effects

environment.

The

on

the

outcome

of

on

Performance

Indicators

(EPI).

EPI’s

concern

product

and

this project were guidelines for

supplier. The project developed a

eco-procurement

railway

database for eight material and

The

components with impact on three

of

infrastructure.

environmental impact of railway

chosen

infrastructure can be inflenced at

evaluation

a fix point of procurement, which

change, hazardous substances,

influences the whole supply chain

natural resources). The method

of

areas

impact (climate

Considering

for development of indicators for

whole life environmental impact

material and components was

of

developed in EU project RAVEL

due

infrastructure.

environmental

materials and to

the

large

components, quantities,

environmental properties could be

improved.

The

new

procurement policy decision is

(Rail design).

Vehicle

eco-efficient

Weighing

among

the

three



factors is complicated, though

47

environmental

impact

assessment (mining)

there are already some methods



production region

such, the Swedish Environmental



design lifetime

Priority Strategy method which



kg product per meter track

takes both sub-optimisation and



etc.

severity into account.

The

following

components

This

materials are

taken

methodology is fully integrated

into

part of the ordinary procurement

account: 

Ballast



Steel/rail

process, therefore contributes to unified methodology

Concrete sleeper



Wooden sleeper



Concrete



Cables



Electric installations



Chemicals considered

point

in

environmental impact evaluation are: 

carbon-footprint



energy

consumed

during

production/assembly/operat ion 

procurement in

the

railway infrastructure.



The

eco-procurement

and

% of recycled materials

EU

for

European

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Commission

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Geography

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(2006) 407–425, of

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Communities: Europe,

a

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the

European

White

Paper

–

Roadmap to a Single European Transport

Commission

for

differential

collapse in time–space, Journal Transport

Policy

2010: Time to Decide. Brussels,

Richard D. Knowles: Transport shaping

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between citizens. Brussels, 2010 European Steer Davies Gleave: Air and Rail competition

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on

report,

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rail

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Sánchez

Borràs,

presentation: High-speed rail in Spain, 1st TEMPO Conference on Sustainable Transport, Oslo, 1819 May 2010 http://www.renfe.com, timetable for Madrid–Seville line for June 1, 2011 (obtained May 31, 2011) http://www.sncf.com,

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