Life cycle greenhouse gases emissions from high-speed rail in Spain: The case of the Madrid – Toledo line

Abstract

The Madrid – Toledo high-speed rail (HSR) line is 74.5 km long, has an average speed of 140 km/h and a maximum speed of 270 km/h. It averages almost 104 million passenger-kilometres travelled and has a utilisation rate (passengers per available seats) of 0.75 as of 2019. This study analyses the life cycle greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of the Madrid – Toledo HSR line using the life cycle assessment methodology, taking into consideration the stages of construction, maintenance and operation for the infrastructure, as well as the manufacturing, maintenance and operation stages for trains. The most significant stage is infrastructure construction, which accounts for an average 75 % emissions, followed by train operation, with an average 18.2 %.The results highlight several environmental benefits of the deployment of the line, as after 40 years of operation there will be an average 21 % reduction in GHG emissions for passenger mobility between Madrid and Toledo compared to the case where no HSR line was built. Moreover, the line's GHG emissions are offset between 19 and 23 years after starting operation, mainly due to the emissions avoided by passengers switching to a carbon-friendlier mode of transportation in terms of operation, and the adoption of a 100 % renewable energy mix for the operation of trains since 2019.These findings point to opportunities for improving the life cycle GHG emissions of high-speed rail lines, such as increasing the occupancy of trains by applying new pricing policies and investing in intermodal infrastructures to achieve higher modal shift rates, promoting proximity criteria for the supply of raw materials during the infrastructure construction stage and improving the maintenance stage to prolong the lifetime of the infrastructure, thus deferring life cycle emissions for longer.