The railway industry has struggled to prove and promote the eco-friendly character of railway transport. Although the most environmentally friendly means of transport, rolling stock manufacturers wouldn’t give up trying to improve the technologies responsible with reducing pollution and progress is now something they boast about every year. The rail transport equipment becomes a strategic factor in providing the mobility of goods and passengers, which reduces traffic congestion and urban pollution. The transport sector is responsible for 21% of carbon dioxide emissions and for 26% of energy consumption.
Rolling stock manufacturers integrate environment policies in their projects thus managing to concentrate innovation towards reducing pollution. The integrating process of environment parameters in what concerns trains consists in controlling and reducing the impact that products have on the environment, from production to recycling. This process is called eco-design. The production system of large rolling stock manufacturers focuses on recycling materials, energy performance, vehicle weight, improved aerodynamic performances and the optimisation of acoustic design.
Companies such as Alstom, Bombardier, Siemens and CAF develop projects while considering these aspects and thus improving their environmental performance.
These companies are paying extra attention to the environmental impact of their products, raw material consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, impact on the ozone layer and dangerous waste. After taking tests, the manufacturers can tell if the materials they use in manufacturing rolling stock meet the standards imposed by environment protection policies. If they don’t meet these standards, the manufacturers will immediately consider eliminating environmentally damaging substances or materials, such as hexavalent chromium used in treating surfaces and electrical components and favouring the use of recyclable materials, such as aluminium, steel, copper. “Alstom Transport is carrying out research on using biomaterials from renewable resources such as wood, hemp and sheep’s wool as thermal and/or sound insulation in trains. The oils used in trains have been replaced by biodegradable lubricants. Of all the trains on the market, the CORADIA Duplex and CORADIA Continental models in service in the Stockholm area (Sweden) are the most easy to dismantle. Stockholm’s suburban Coradia Continental train holds the record for recyclability (98%)”, declared for Railway Pro François Lacôte, Senior Vice President and Technical Advisor, Alstom Transport.
The companies are also considering the train weight, improvement of the acoustic design for providing a silent railway transport, as well as energy storage and capture for a high performance of ultracapacitors. “Energy efficiency is built into our products right from the design phase. This means incorporating total lifecycle considerations into our research and development programmes. Bombardier has determined how each sub-system impacts upon the overall efficiency of a train. The solutions range from lighter weight, lower maintenance bogies with reduced wheel and track wear to optimised aerodynamic performance”, declared for Railway Pro, Katrin Scharl PR Manager Bombardier Transportation.
Siemens is also focusing on selecting materials and recycling them and on manufacturing vehicles using lighter materials and propulsion technologies that help reduce energy consumption. “Low operation and maintenance costs, reduced energy consumption and using natural and recyclable materials are environmentally friendly activities. A design solution is not good merely because it can be realized in a cost-effective manner; instead, it can only be defined as “good” when it can be realized in a cost-effective manner, can be maintained easily and swiftly, and is extremely reliable, energy efficient, and recyclable in an environmentally compatible way”, declared for Railway Pro Dipl. Eng. Martin Steuger, Head of Velaro platform development, Siemens Mobility Division, Erlangen (Germany). CAF relies on ecodesign methods in its engineering process to optimise and control their impact on the environment. “To protect the environment in manufacturing rolling stock, we rely on latest technologies in accumulation, energy recovery and hybridization, ultracapacitors, reversible stations, efficient traction systems, energy consumption optimisation, lighter materials, new lubrication fluids and greases etc.” declared for Railway Pro Aitor Llorente, Area Manager CAF
International Division.
by Pamela Luică
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