Abstract The increase of train speed and axle load is an essential goal to make the railway transport more and more competitive for passengers and freights. On this basis, the unevenness of the railway track is crucial for the safety of the railway due to the high speed of the vehicle. Although ballasted tracks represent by far the most used railway track substructure, in recent years the modernization process has led the development of the ballastless track substructures. In deciding between the use of ballasted or ballastless track substructure there are many important technical, economical and environmental factors that have to be addressed. Based on the above, the principal objective of this study was to evaluate the environmental impact of different railway track substructures including ballast, cast-in sleeper and embedded track systems on the short, medium and long term. To accomplish this task, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out throughout the entire life cycle of the railway infrastructure by using the ReCiPe (H) method. Although such approach is commonly included in the environmental assessment of building products and buildings, it was rarely applied in the analysis of the environmental impacts of railway track substructure. Thus, the result of these LCA showed that ballasted tracks cause the lowest environmental impact for service lives of up to 75 years. On the other hand, the embedded track beds cause the highest environmental impacts, regardless of their service life. The highest contributor for the environmental impacts of the track beds was the steel production. The results of this study will provide relevant environmental information for engineers and decision makers to select the most adequate railway track substructures for addressing issues related to the pursuit of sustainable development.

中文翻译：

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铁路轨道子结构的生命周期评估：有碴轨道和无碴轨道的比较

摘要 提高列车运行速度和轴重是提高铁路客运和货运竞争力的重要目标。在此基础上，由于车辆行驶速度快，铁路轨道的不平度对铁路的安全至关重要。尽管有碴轨道是迄今为止最常用的铁路轨道下部结构，但近年来，现代化进程引领了无砟轨道下部结构的发展。在决定使用有砟还是无砟轨道下部结构时，必须考虑许多重要的技术、经济和环境因素。基于上述，本研究的主要目的是评估不同铁路轨道下部结构的环境影响，包括道碴、短期、中期和长期的浇筑轨枕和嵌入式轨道系统。为了完成这项任务，使用 ReCiPe (H) 方法在铁路基础设施的整个生命周期中进行了生命周期评估 (LCA)。虽然这种方法通常包含在建筑产品和建筑物的环境评估中，但很少应用于铁路轨道下部结构的环境影响分析。因此，这些 LCA 的结果表明，在长达 75 年的使用寿命内，有碴轨道对环境的影响最小。另一方面，嵌入式道床对环境的影响最大，无论其使用寿命如何。道床对环境影响的最大贡献者是钢铁生产。