Abstract
To minimize the maintenance frequency as well as the environmental impact caused by the growing number of railway materials reaching the end of their lives, appropriate sustainable management is inevitable prior to either turning them into wastes or leaving them in landfill sites. This paper presents the recent developments of Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane (FFU) sleepers installed in the railway turnouts. It determines the recycling and recovering processes of this infrastructure system. The results of recyclability (Rcyc) and recoverability (Rcov) rates for the railway turnout system are subject to assumptions associated with data which are taken from relevant sources (e.g. UNIFE). The result presents a value of 92.23% and 93.50%, respectively. A sensitivity analysis demonstrates that Mass Recovery Factor (MRF) has superior effect on Rcyc and Rcov values compared to Energy Recovery Factor (ERF). In addition, this study evaluates environmental life-cycle impacts based on the calculation of carbon emissions and energy consumption over 75 year’s lifespan. Comparison of the life-cycle sensitivity for the whole railway turnout system is conducted between FFU sleepers and concrete sleepers. The results show that concrete sleeper emitted almost the same carbon emission as the FFU material, but with much more maintenance and replacement frequency over the mentioned lifespan.
Highlights
With the continuous growth of population, transportation networks will always be a highly demanded industry
In a railway turnout system, the Shredder Heavy Fraction (SHF) mainly involves metal material, but the SLF may be sent to recovering process such as fibre and rubber, which are distributed in the Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane (FFU) sleepers/bearers and rail pads
Four main materials have been taken into account for components’ analysis because they are representative of a typical railway turnout system
Summary
With the continuous growth of population, transportation networks will always be a highly demanded industry. Ecological problems, such as water pollution, desertification and reduced forest cover, are prevalent in developing countries. This makes it urgent for human beings to protect the earth's resources. Meinshausen et al (2015) reported that over half of the GHG emissions (including land use) in 2014 arise from China (26%), the United States (11%) and Europe (8%); the three biggest contributors. These counties are responsible for being pioneers to reduce carbon emissions. These environmental challenges of the industrial age have necessitated several international agreements to be signed with the collective aim of limiting the word temperature increases to below to 2°C (Damn et al, 2016; UNFCCC, 2016; Yeh et al, 2017; Kaewunruen et al, 2019)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
