Abstract

Nowadays, the railway sector demands new lighter designs in the structural components of rolling stock that compensate for its increase due to the incorporation of new technologies, to improve passenger comfort and experience, as well as to face new environmental challenges (reduction emissions, energy consumption, increased capacity, etc.).

With this objective, Talgo introduces a frame in high-performance composite material (CFRP) in its rolling elements (wheels) for high-speed trains, traditionally made of metal (steel), which allows weight saving of over 45%.

However, the introduction of new materials is subject to overcoming certain challenges: compliance with fire requirements, adaptation of existing regulations, ballast impact behavior, direct cost increase, etc.

This project consists of different phases: a) design, in accordance with the requirements demanded by current standards, b) manufacture of prototypes, c) process of characterization and verification of properties of non-standard materials, d) testing of component validation equivalent to what is required of a conventional frame (static resistance and fatigue test up to 10 million cycles in accordance with existing regulations), and, finally, e) track tests.

Abstract

The European rail network is largely electrified, and rail emits far less CO₂ than equivalent travel by road or air. It accounts for only 0.4 % greenhouse gas emissions from EU transport, while all EU transport accounts for 25% of the EU’s total emissions. Additionally, rail is the only transport that between 1990 and 2017 has consistently reduced its emissions and energy consumption, while increasingly using renewable energy sources.

Following this green line, this article presents the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of new generation trains, mainly based on lightweighted primary structures made of composite material (about 30-50% weight loss compared to conventional ones).

The composite materials are novelty in the railway sector. Their introduction brings a clear advantage from the point of view of train capacity or energy/infrastructure canon savings. However, it needs to be justified from the LCA point of view.

Two different stages are developed in this article. An LCA of the new prototypes (production, assembly, transport and use phase). It is completed with an LCA of conventional structures. The second phase presents a comparison between the environmental impact produce using CFRP materials or metallic materials at the end of a useful life (EoL) of a carbody.

The results indicates that, at EoL, the composite material would be more economically and environmentally attractive than the current materials.