TY - JOUR
T1 - Life cycle analysis based comprehensive environmental performance evaluation of Mumbai Suburban Railway, India
AU - Shinde, Amar Mohan
AU - Dikshit, Anil Kumar
AU - Singh, Rajesh Kumar
AU - Campana, Pietro Elia
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors sincerely thank the management and the staff of the Mumbai Divisions of Central Railway and Western Railway, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai and Carriage Workshop, Matunga for providing the data needed for carrying out the present research study. The first author would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Human Resource Development , Government of India for providing financial assistantship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Suburban railway systems are recognized as one of the most promising options to improve the environmental footprint of urban passenger transport in developing countries. In the present study, life cycle assessment has been performed for the Mumbai Suburban Railway with the objective of developing a comprehensive methodology for environmental evaluation of suburban railway projects in terms of energy consumption and relevant impact categories. The system boundary comprises the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure such as tracks, power supply installations, foot over bridges and platforms, in addition to manufacturing, maintenance and operation phase of Electric Multiple Unit (EMU). The functional unit identified for this study is per Passenger Kilometer Travelled within a service lifetime of EMU of 25 years. The results show that operation phase is the main contributor (87–94%) to the total environmental impact, whereas the contribution of remaining life cycle phases is relatively insignificant (6–13%). It is mainly due to electricity production from non-renewable sources in India. The material and energy intensive rails entail the major contribution to construction phase (24–57%) and maintenance phase (46–71%), whereas the contribution from fastenings, ballast and on-site energy consumption is less significant. The increasing utilization of renewable energy, lightweighting of coach bodies, enhancing the service life and reuse potential of rails and fastenings and enhancing train occupancy are fundamental to accomplish suburban railways as a clean transportation mode. This comprehensive study can serve as a preeminent support and benchmark for the future environmental performance assessments of public transportation in India. Eventually, decision makers and regional transport planners can more effectively craft the strategic decisions and priorities of measures for providing sustainable mobility options.
AB - Suburban railway systems are recognized as one of the most promising options to improve the environmental footprint of urban passenger transport in developing countries. In the present study, life cycle assessment has been performed for the Mumbai Suburban Railway with the objective of developing a comprehensive methodology for environmental evaluation of suburban railway projects in terms of energy consumption and relevant impact categories. The system boundary comprises the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure such as tracks, power supply installations, foot over bridges and platforms, in addition to manufacturing, maintenance and operation phase of Electric Multiple Unit (EMU). The functional unit identified for this study is per Passenger Kilometer Travelled within a service lifetime of EMU of 25 years. The results show that operation phase is the main contributor (87–94%) to the total environmental impact, whereas the contribution of remaining life cycle phases is relatively insignificant (6–13%). It is mainly due to electricity production from non-renewable sources in India. The material and energy intensive rails entail the major contribution to construction phase (24–57%) and maintenance phase (46–71%), whereas the contribution from fastenings, ballast and on-site energy consumption is less significant. The increasing utilization of renewable energy, lightweighting of coach bodies, enhancing the service life and reuse potential of rails and fastenings and enhancing train occupancy are fundamental to accomplish suburban railways as a clean transportation mode. This comprehensive study can serve as a preeminent support and benchmark for the future environmental performance assessments of public transportation in India. Eventually, decision makers and regional transport planners can more effectively craft the strategic decisions and priorities of measures for providing sustainable mobility options.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.022
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047450282
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 188
SP - 989
EP - 1003
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
ER -
