WP3: Rail Passenger Transport - TOSCA Project

3 TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
3.1 General
In this section technologies and operational measures are presented, which offer a technical
potential for reducing energy consumption and (indirect or direct) GHG emissions. Most of
these technologies are listed and described in the ‘Energy efficiency strategies for rolling stock
and train operation’ (UIC, 2010), published continuously by UIC (International Union of
Railways) as a result of on-going research and development. Some of these technologies and
operational measures are also preliminary results from the EU-funded project Railenergy
(Railenergy, 2009). Earlier research at KTH (Andersson, 1994), (Lukaszewicz, 2001),
(Lukaszewicz et al, 2009) is also used.
All the above-mentioned technologies are subject to critical evaluations and judgement within
TOSCA WP 3. These assessments were complemented with simulations and other estimations
where necessary.
A special case where development outside the railway sector is important, is the prospected
change of the electricity mix in Europe’s energy market. In 2009 the average CO 2 -eq emissions
within the EU-27 electricity generation was about 435 g per kWh of electricity, according to
TOSCA WP4 (Perimenis et al, 2010). At the consumer level (taking into account losses in the
electricity transmission) the emissions were 460 gCO 2 -eq per consumed kWh, or 128 g per MJ
of electricity. Very significant reductions in railway GHG emissions can be achieved with a
declining share of fossil fuels and increasing shares of bio fuels and wind power, likely also
solar, geothermal and nuclear power. Another promising technology is the introduction of
carbon capture and storage (CCS) for fossil fuel power plants. Low-carbon electricity is further
discussed as a technology denoted PJ in Section 3.3.
The different technologies and measures (PA – PK presented below) are referred to as technology
trajectories, including the projected approximate year of technology readiness, i.e. when a
technology is ready for commercial sale. In some cases the energy-saving technology is
already partly introduced. The indicated amount of improvement should be interpreted as the
potential for further improvement in comparison with the reference cases of 2009 in Table 2.1.
Before marketing the improved technologies they must be integrated into products, even if the
basic technology is available in 2009. In these cases the improved technology is anticipated to
be ready for commercial sale by about 2015, provided that corporate decisions on product
development are taken by 2011–12. Another 4–5 years are needed for delivery and introduction
in full-scale regular service. In order to be considered as “standard” for newly delivered
systems will finally take some additional 3–5 years.
Summing up this chain means that new systems ready for market introduction (sales) by 2015
can be a standard for modern systems by about 2022–2025. Even then most of the older
technology, say from the reference year 2009, will be used in daily operations, although less
intensively. However, compared with the situation by the reference year an improvement will
take place, because even older technology was used in 2009. The practical lifetime of trains –
i.e. with intensive use – is usually in the order of 25 years, although many trains will survive
for a longer time as operational reserve or used at peak periods.
In some cases commercial introduction is anticipated at a later stage, by 2020 or 2025. A
second estimate is on the very long term (2050) anticipating a continuous or stepwise development.
This is further explained in Section 3.5.
Note that the full implementation of most technologies will usually take some 20-25 years
from the first commercial delivery, due to the long life of railway equipment. In some cases
Deliverable D4 – WP3 passenger 6