Life Cycle Assessment of High-Performance Railway Infrastructure, Analysis of Superstructures in Tunnels and on Open Tracks

Almost 25% of the environmental pollution, measured by the indicator of global greenhouse emissions, is emitted by transport. Changes in the mobility behavior of the population will be essential if the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals of the EU Commission's Green Deal are to be attained. Accordingly, the existing infrastructure has to transform into a sustainable transport infrastructure through further optimizations in the future. Therefore, continuous optimizations and improvements of designs, materials, and processes are crucial to achieving long-term sustainability. This study investigates different superstructures with the method of life cycle assessment using the example of the emerging high-performance infrastructure at the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT). The study analyzes all relevant life cycle stages (A1-C4) and validates different effects of service lifetimes of superstructure elements on the open track and in the tunnel. The results, which are presented in the form of GWP, AP, and NRCED, show that there is environmental reduction potential, especially in the stage of use. As more frequent modernization cycles and the associated remanufacturing of superstructure elements account for a significant proportion of the total environmental impact, lifetime extending optimization of products yields improvements in the ecological footprint.