Qualitative Lifecycle Analysis of Rail Tie Materials

Details

• Creators:
  Litchholt, Briana ; Zhang, Alicia ; Mittelman, Anjuliee ; Simon, Matthew C,
• Corporate Creators:
  Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. Environmental Measurement and Modeling Division
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Railroad Development ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Environmental Program Management
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Climate Change Mitigation Environmental Impacts Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Analysis Railroad Ties
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT-VNTSC-FRA-25-03
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  April 2024 – December 2024
• Contracting Officer:
  Johnsen, Michael
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration
• Abstract:
  To address the large environmental impact of the transportation sector, opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be identified. After direct emissions from locomotives, rail ties are the second largest source of lifecycle railway GHG emissions. To better understand these impacts, this research qualitatively evaluated the environmental impacts, benefits, and drawbacks of four rail tie materials: timber, concrete, steel, and plastic composite. The manufacture, operation, and disposal stages of the rail tie lifecycle were considered. There was no strong consensus among the existing literature about the absolute lifecycle GHG emissions for each rail tie material, as each study had a unique set of assumptions that led to different ranges. However, there was a consensus that concrete rail ties had the lowest lifecycle GHG emissions, followed by timber. Despite the seemingly lower environmental impact, with concrete rail ties having the highest upfront financial cost their market penetration has stayed well below that of timber. Steel and composite rail ties can be recycled after disposal but have structural qualities that prevent these two materials from penetrating the market. Studies that have considered stored carbon and sustainable forestry practices in their lifecycle analyses of timber rail ties have indicated that timber rail ties might have the lowest lifecycle emissions, but more research in this area is needed.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  693JJ621N000043
• Collection(s):
  Transportation Resilience & Vulnerability Collection Federal Railroad Administration Volpe Center
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:137ffaa9e47e0625854d94f3a2bce03a9bf3f82d363f0ab2f7d70a56e3e792b03dc24eebffa9a894faabc214def76aa91bf21b64ecc21b2a176fbf61de686285
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/79335/dot_79335_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.20 MB ]