Abstract
The Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway (HSR) is one of the most important railways in China, but it also has impacts on the economy and the environment while creating social benefits. This paper uses a life cycle assessment (LCA) method and a life cycle cost (LCC) analysis method to summarize the energy consumption, carbon emissions and costs of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR from the perspective of life cycle, and proposes some corresponding suggestions based on the results. The research objective of this paper is to analyse the carbon emissions, energy consumption, and costs of the rail system which includes the structure of the track and earthwork of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR during four stages: conception stage, construction stage, operation and maintenance stage, and disposal stage. It is concluded that the majority of the carbon emissions and energy consumption of the entire rail system are from the construction stage, accounting for 64.86% and 54.31% respectively. It is followed by the operation and maintenance stage with 31.60% and 35.32% respectively. In contrast, the amount of carbon emissions and energy consumption from the conception stage is too small to be considered. Furthermore, cement is the major contributor to the carbon emissions and energy consumption during the construction stage. As for the cost, the construction stage spends the largest amount of money (US$4614.00 million), followed by the operation and maintenance stage (US$910.61 million). Improving production technologies and choosing construction machinery are proposed to reduce the cost and protect the environment.
Highlights
The Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway (HSR) is located in the north and east of China, starting from the capital Beijing, and ending in Shanghai which is the largest city in China
For the structure of the track, the operation and maintenance stage contributes to 53.88% of the carbon emissions, while the construction stage contributes to 44.60%
The conception stage has the lowest proportion of carbon emissions for the track, the earthwork, and the whole rail system, which are less than 1%
Summary
The Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway (HSR) is located in the north and east of China, starting from the capital Beijing, and ending in Shanghai which is the largest city in China (see Figure 1). The construction cost of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR was relatively high compared to other traditional railways when the cost of a double-track railway was US$3.50 million per km [2] but the cost of a high speed rail with a maximum speed of 350 km/h was US$17–21 million per km [3] It will have a certain impact on the surrounding environment and energy sources during its whole life cycle. This paper adopts the method of LCA and LCC to evaluate environmental impacts and costs of the entire rail system (including the structure of track and earthwork) of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR in four stages of the life cycle to overcome gaps of previous studies.
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