Towards an electric-rail based
transportation system for
emission mitigation
Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi
Research Fellow
Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Based on paper co-authored with Dr. Sonny H Kim (PNNL, USA)
Climate Day: Negotiating the Climate Cliff: India’s Climate Policy and
INDCs
New Delhi, 03 Feb 2015
© Council on Energy, Environment and Water, 2015
CEEW: addressing global challenges through an integrated approach
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Introduction
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Transport sector was highlighted in the Kyoto Protocol as one of the key sectors to be
tackled for meeting ambitious global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets
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Different strategies proposed for reducing transportation energy demand and emissions:
land use and urban planning; fuel switching towards low carbon vehicles; improving
vehicular fuel efficiency
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Shifting towards mass rapid transportation system has been argued as an important
strategy for emission mitigation
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Is there a role for electricity based rail system in India’s climate policy is what needs to be
analysed?
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Electrification along with public transportation
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Scenario analysis explored implications of varying share of electricity rail in total
passenger transportation demand, where in final share is pegged from 10% in 2050 to
50% in 2050 in different scenarios
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Rail represents long distance railways, inter city trains, urban metro systems, as well as
high speed rail
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Implication for climate policy highlighted
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Modelling Framework: Global Change Assessment Model
(GCAM)
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Economy-Energy-Agriculture
Market Equilibrium (Edmonds et
al., 2004)
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14 Global Regions Fully
Integrated
•
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Explicit Representation of
Energy Technologies
Tracks 15 greenhouse gases
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Dynamic-recursive model
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Typically runs to 2095 in 5-year
time steps
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Used extensively for energy and
climate policy analyses
conducted for DOE, EPA, IPCC,
etc. (Clarke et al., 2007)
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An economy wide climate policy in conjunction with a transportation
sector focused policy required in India
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Passenger cars would take an increasingly higher share of passenger service demand in
the future, from 5% in 2010 to 24% in 2050.
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A climate policy, implemented through a carbon price, leads to a 100% decarbonization
of the supply sector by 2100, but not of transportation sector.
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Increasing the share of electric rail in India's transportation sector to 30% by 2050 from
13% in 2010, can reduce direct transport sector carbon dioxide emissions by 25% in
2050, relative to reference scenario emissions.
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However emissions only shift to the electricity production sector, an economy wide
climate policy required for mitigation.
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A 30% share of electric rail reduces the cumulative mitigation cost by over 5% across the
century.
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Comparative cost across countries
Location
Project Details
Route doubling and
elactrification
Track length
Cost
26 km
$ 2.12 Million/Km www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
Main line
377 km
$ 9 Million/Km
www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
High speed line
308 km
$ 10 Million/Km
www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
High speed railway line 304 km
$ 12 Million/Km
www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
---
$ 13 Million/Km
$ 27 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
www.publictransport.about.com
124 km
$ 28 Million/Km
www.delhimetrorail.com
--
$ 31 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
Seoul- Gimpo, Korea Airport line
Los Angeles Crenshaw
Los Angeles USA
line light rail system
Vancouver light rail
Vancouver, Canada
Canada line
Surface light rail new
Portland, USA
Milwaukie lines
Copenhagen,
Denmark
New Metro line
20 km
$ 98 Million/Km
www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
--
$ 103 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
--
$ 109 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
--
$ 128 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
16 km
$ 247 Million/Km
www.railway-technical.com/finance.shtml
Toronto, Canada
--
$ 250 Million/Km
www.publictransport.about.com
Spain
Yichang-Wanzho,
China
Haikou-Sanya, China
Madrid-Albacete,
Spain
St. Louis, USA
Norfolk, VA, USA
Delhi, India
Seattle USA
One track extension of
St. Louis rail system
Surface light rail lines
Urban metro rail
project, Phase II
Streetcars for urban
/peri urban
commuting
Eglington light rail line
Data source
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Conclusion
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Cost and flexibility of mitigation options important considerations in climate policy
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What are the operational challenges in increasing the share of electric rail in
India?
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Can air travel be partly shifted towards high speed rail in India, what are the
challenges?
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Indian Railways has significant potential for electricity generation through
renewable energy that needs to be harnessed
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Not just passenger transportation, but also freight transport
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THANK YOU
http://ceew.in
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http://ceew.in
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