Life-Cycle Cost Model of High-Speed Railway Considering Carbon Emissions
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29, Issue 3
Abstract
The Chinese government continues to contribute to tackling the global climate challenge and plans to continue lowering carbon emissions in the transportation infrastructure field. The comprehensive assessment of the impact of carbon emissions is mainly focused on high-speed railways (HSRs). This paper proposes a life-cycle cost considering carbon emissions (LCCCCE) model for HSR projects, which consists of a general life-cycle cost (GLCC) model and a quantified carbon emissions cost (CEC) model. The Beijing-Shanghai HSR is employed as a case study, in which the LCCCCE and sensitivity of carbon emission factors are analyzed using the proposed methodology. The results show that the LCCCCE of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR is 64.56 billion USD, and that its CEC is 1.04 billion USD, which contributes 1.61% to the LCCCCE. Thus, the LCCCCE analysis of HSRs or transportation infrastructure projects is an effective methodology to quantify the impacts of carbon emissions in China and around the world.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. The parameters have been provided in the following reference list. The spreadsheets with all calculations realized in this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. The original data used during the study are confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions. The processed datasets are available from the corresponding author upon request. Some data are available in Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway (http://www.cr-jh.cn/websiteMenu/156/2).
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation, Education Department of Hebei Province of China (ZD2021336), the National Social Science Foundation (20BJY178), the Key Projects of Humanities and Social Sciences of Hebei Education Department (ZD202002) and the Science Research Development Plan of China National Railway Group Co. Ltd. (2020F026) for funding. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the following funding agencies for their support for some of the co-authors: North Dakota State University and the Mountain-Plains Consortium (MPC), a university transportation center funded by the US Department of Transportation.
References
Åkerman, J. 2011. “The role of high-speed rail in mitigating climate change—The Swedish case Europabanan from a life cycle perspective.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 16 (3): 208–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2010.12.004.
Banar, M., and A. Özdemir. 2015. “An evaluation of railway passenger transport in Turkey using life cycle assessment and life cycle cost methods.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 41 (Dec): 88–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2015.09.017.
Baron, T., G. Martinetti, and D. Pépion. 2011a. Carbon footprint of high speed rail. Paris: International Union of Railways.
Baron, T., M. Tuchschmid, G. Martinetti, and D. Pépion. 2011b. “High speed rail and sustainability.” In Background report: Methodology and results of carbon footprint analysis. Paris: International Union of Railways.
Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co., Ltd. n.d. “Company profile: Beijing-Shanghai high-speed Railway information.” Accessed June 30, 2021. http://www.cr-jh.cn/websiteMenu/156/2.
Bueno, G., D. Hoyos, and I. Capellán-Pérez. 2017. “Evaluating the environmental performance of the high speed rail project in the Basque Country, Spain.” Res. Transp. Econ. 62 (Jun): 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2017.02.004.
Chang, B., and A. Kendall. 2011. “Life cycle greenhouse gas assessment of infrastructure construction for California’s high-speed rail system.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 16 (6): 429–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2011.04.004.
Chen, J., G. Gao, X. Wang, and X. Wang. 2014. “Calculation method of whole life cycle energy consumption for urban rail transit.” [In Chinese.] J. Traffic Transp. Eng. 14 (4): 82–87.
Chen, J., X. Wang, X. Wang, X. Ma, and Y. Chen. 2016. “Calculation of carbon dioxide emissions in the life cycle of high-speed railways.” [In Chinese.] J. China Railway Soc. 38 (12): 47–55.
Cheng, S., J. Lin, W. Xu, D. Yang, J. Liu, and H. Li. 2020. “Carbon, water, land and material footprints of China’s high-speed railway construction.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 82 (May): 102314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102314.
Chester, M., and A. Horvath. 2010. “Life-cycle assessment of high-speed rail: The case of California.” Environ. Res. Lett. 5 (1): 14003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014003.
CSP (China Standard Press). 2008. General principles for calculation of total production energy consumption. [In Chinese.]. Beijing: CSP.
D’Alfonso, T., C. Jiang, and V. Bracaglia. 2016. “Air transport and high-speed rail competition: Environmental implications and mitigation strategies.” Transp. Res. Part A: Policy Pract. 92 (Oct): 261–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2016.06.009.
De Boer, D., R. Roldao, and H. Slater. 2015. “The 2015 China carbon pricing survey.” In Proc., China Carbon Forum. Beijing: China Carbon Forum.
Fan, Y. V., S. Perry, J. J. Klemeš, and C. T. Lee. 2018. “A review on air emissions assessment: Transportation.” J. Cleaner Prod. 194 (Sep): 673–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.151.
Feng, X. 2014. Modeling life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for high-speed railways. [In Chinese.] Beijing: Beijing Jiaotong Univ.
Gan, M., Q. Jiang, and D. Zhu. 2020. “Identify the significant contributors of regional CO2 emissions in the context of the operation of high-speed railway—Illustrated by the case of Hunan Province.” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 27 (12): 13703–13713. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-07866-6.
Givoni, M. 2007. “Environmental benefits from mode substitution: Comparison of the environmental impact from aircraft and high-speed train operations.” Int. J. Sustainable Transp. 1 (4): 209–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/15568310601060044.
Guo, B., Y. Geng, B. Franke, H. Hao, Y. Liu, and A. Chiu. 2014. “Uncovering China’s transport emission patterns at the regional level.” Energy Policy 74 (Nov): 134–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.08.005.
Guo, Y., P. Li, P. Anastasopoulos, S. Peeta, and J. Lu. 2021. “China’s millennial car travelers’ mode shift responses under congestion pricing and reward policies: A case study in Beijing.” Travel Behav. Soc. 23 (Apr): 86–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2020.11.004.
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2006. IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. Edited by National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, H. S. Eggleston, L. Buendia, K. Miwa, T. Ngara, and K. Tanabe. Hayama, Japan: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies.
Jacobson, M. Z. 2019. “Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security.” Energy Environ. Sci. 2 (Aug): 99. https://doi.org/10.1039/B809990C.
Janic, M. 2005. “High-speed rail and air passenger transport: A comparison of the operational environmental performance.” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 217 (4): 259–269. https://doi.org/10.1243/095440903322712865.
Jiang, J., B. Ye, D. Xie, J. Li, L. Miao, and P. Yang. 2017. “Sector decomposition of China’s national economic carbon emissions and its policy implication for national ETS development.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 75 (Aug): 855–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.066.
Jones, H., F. Moura, and T. Domingos. 2016. “Life cycle assessment of high-speed rail: A case study in Portugal.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 22 (3): 410–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1177-7.
Kaewunruen, S., J. Sresakoolchai, and J. Peng. 2019. “Life cycle cost, energy and carbon assessments of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.” Sustainability 12 (1): 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010206.
Lee, J. Y., C. K. Lee, and Y. Y. Chun. 2020. “Greenhouse gas emissions from high-speed rail infrastructure construction in Korea.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 87 (Oct): 102514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102514.
Li, H., J. Strauss, and L. Liu. 2019a. “A panel investigation of high-speed rail (HSR) and urban transport on China’s carbon footprint.” Sustainability 11 (7): 2011. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11072011.
Li, X. Y., and B. J. Tang. 2017. “Incorporating the transport sector into carbon emission trading scheme: An overview and outlook.” Nat. Hazards 88 (2): 683–698. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2886-3.
Li, Y., Q. Du, X. Lu, J. Wu, and X. Han. 2019b. “Relationship between the development and emissions of transport sector in China.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 74 (Sep): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.07.011.
Lin, B., and W. Wu. 2021. “The impact of electric vehicle penetration: A recursive dynamic CGE analysis of China.” Energy Econ. 94 (Feb): 105086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105086.
Lin, J., H. Li, W. Huang, W. Xu, and S. Cheng. 2018. “A carbon footprint of high-speed railways in China: A case study of the Beijing-Shanghai line.” J. Ind. Ecol. 23 (4): 869–878. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12824.
Ma, X. 2016. Model for whole life-cycle energy consumption and carbon emission of high-speed railway. [In Chinese.] Shijiazhaung, China: Shijiazhaung Tiedao Univ.
Nie, L., and Z. Zhang. 2021. Is high-speed rail green? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Milano, Italy: Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
Smith, R. A. 2005. “Railways: How they may contribute to a sustainable future.” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 217 (4): 243–248. https://doi.org/10.1243/095440903322712847.
Sun, Q. P., Q. Y. Wang, and B. H. Mao. 2009. “Framework design of different transportation modes’ energy consumption factors and comparabilities study.” [In Chinese.] J. Transp. Syst. Eng. Inf. Technol. 9 (4): 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1570-6672(08)60069-0.
Sun, S., and Z. Duan. 2021. “Sustaining the development of campus bike-sharing: A lesson from the unsuccessful practice in Dalian Maritime University, China.” J. Cleaner Prod. 295 (May): 126483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126483.
Van Wee, B., R. Van Den Brink, and H. Nijland. 2003. “Environmental impacts of high-speed rail links in cost-benefit analyses: A case study of the Dutch Zuider Zee line.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 8 (4): 299–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1361-9209(03)00017-8.
Wang, H., I. Al-Saadi, P. Lu, and A. Jasim. 2020. “Quantifying greenhouse gas emission of asphalt pavement preservation at construction and use stages using life-cycle assessment.” Int. J. Sustainable Transp. 14 (1): 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2018.1519086.
Wang, X., Z. Zhang, J. Chen, and Z. Han. 2015. “Methodologies for assessing costs of rail transit systems based on small sample data.” Int. J. Rail Transp. 3 (2): 81–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/23248378.2015.1015222.
Wang, X., Z. Zhang, J. Chen, and Z. Han. 2016. “A generalized life-cycle cost model for rail transit: Making decisions between at-grade mode and underground mode.” Int. J. Rail Transp. 4 (1): 37–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/23248378.2015.1015221.
Wang, X. C., and L. Sanders. 2012. “Energy consumption and carbon footprint of high-speed rail projects: Using CAHSR and FHSR as examples.” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 226 (1): 26–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954409711404641.
Wang, Y., T. Xie, and S. Yang. 2017. “Carbon emission and its decoupling research of transportation in Jiangsu Province.” J. Cleaner Prod. 142 (Jan): 907–914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.052.
Yue, Y., T. Wang, S. Liang, J. Yang, P. Hou, S. Qu, J. Zhou, X. Jia, H. Wang, and M. Xu. 2015. “Life cycle assessment of high speed rail in China.” Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 41 (Dec): 367–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2015.10.005.
Zhang, Y., and W. Liu. 2015. “Analysis of energy consumption and CO2 emission of asphalt pavement construction materials in construction period.” [In Chinese.] Highway 60 (1): 100–107.
Zoeteman, A., and C. Esveld. 1999. “Evaluating track structures: Life cycle cost analysis as a structured approach.” In Proc., World Congress on Railway Research. Delft, Netherlands: Delft Univ. of Technology.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29 • Issue 3 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 4, 2021
Accepted: Jun 23, 2022
Published online: Jun 28, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Nov 28, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Air pollution
- Analysis (by type)
- Benefit cost ratios
- Business management
- Construction costs
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Emissions
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Financial management
- High-speed rail
- Infrastructure
- Life cycles
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Rail transportation
- Sensitivity analysis
- Transportation engineering
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.