Page 390 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Watson, Inara. Amer, Ali. Bayyati, Ali.

1. Introduction

Increased globalization has large impacts on the transport system. Traffic growth is largely
the result of economic growth in a such a way that when a country’s gross national product
goes up, personal travel increases by a factor of 1.5 in relation to the GDP. It was estimated
that the average growth rate of passenger kilometres increases by 4.6% every year (Whitelee
& Haq, 2003a). The role of railway transport tends to increase and is becoming an important
mode of transportation because it offers many advantages over other modes of transport. The
transport system is considered sustainable if it satisfies three conditions, namely; its rates of
use of renewable resources do not exceed their rates of regeneration, the use of non-renewable
resources do not exceed the rate at which sustainable renewables are developed, and its rates
of pollution do not exceed the assimilative capacity of the environment (Hoyle & Knowles, 1998).
Reducing the energy that is consumed by railways and reducing the amount of raw materials that
is used by railways can sufficiently reduce the environmental impact of railway and improve its
economical sustainability. The Carbon footprint that a train may accommodate over its lifecycle
can be 55 to 85% due to energy consumption whilst the rest is related to the use of raw materials
(Andries, 2016). HSR is comparatively the most sustainable transportation mode because it is
powered by electricity that may come from renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar, wind
and other environmentally friendly forms of energy, uses less non-renewable natural resources
than any other transportation mode. HSR contributes to the growth of circular economy.

2. Resource Efficiency

The global economic system depends on how the natural resources are used. All-natural resources
are divided into renewable resources and non-renewables such as raw materials, land and fossil
fuels. At the present time, the transport sector is the major consumer of fossil fuels and is
responsible for most of the emissions of CO₂. It is stated that the UK transport sector in 2014
consumed 54.2 million tons of oil (38% of the total consumption of oil) with an increase of 1.1%
from that of 2013. Considering that transport is responsible for 74% of the total transport energy
consumption, air transport is responsible for 23%, the rail transport is responsible for a percentage
of 1.9% including high speed trains (Waters, 2015).
The growth of population may mean a growth in the consumption of raw materials whilst the
world energy reserves and raw materials are finite. It was forecasted that oil reserves in the world
would run out around the year 2040. This is only approximate, but it must be realised that oil
reserves are limited. Modern transport depends 95% on fuel oil, and HSR can reduce dependency
on this energy resource.
In the European Union railway transport carried 11% of goods and 8% of passengers and was
responsible for only 0.6% of the emission of greenhouse gases and consumed only 2% of the total
energy consumption in transport (Jehanno, et.al., 2011a). The railway network can accommodate
more passengers and freight in the future. Resource efficiency for HSR means that there is a
need to minimise emissions from the construction or upgrading of the railway infrastructures,
increase recyclability of train components and parts of infrastructure, and sensitively use the
land resources. Reducing the weight of rolling stock will reduce the amount of raw materials that
are needed for their production.

Better use of insulating materials in the construction of rolling stock can reduce the energy
output. Modernisation of existing high-speed trains instead of building new ones, can give
sufficient savings in energy and raw materials. When the first generation of ICE was modernised,
it gave savings of 16,000 tons of steel and 1,200 tons of copper (Jehanno, et.al.,2011b). Further
weight reductions can be achieved by replacing conventional stock by articulated rolling stock
and increasing the use of aluminium and light alloy construction.

388 360.revista de alta velocidad