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Rail transport and the energy sector

Energy demand from rail transport

On a global basis, the transport and industry sector each account for 29% of final energy use,

the residential sector for 22% with the remainder used in commercial and public services, Page | 47 agriculture and others (IEA, 2018b). Within transport demand, the European Union and North

America are the source of the world’s highest energy requirements, but emerging economies, such as China, India, South Africa and Brazil are catching up quickly (Figure 1.20). Railways today consume close to 2% of transport final energy use, a modest share relative to road, maritime and air transport, especially since rail constitutes a much higher share of transport activity (8% of total passenger-kilometres and 7% of total tonne-kilometres).

Figure 1.20 Final energy use in transport by region and mode, 2000-17

Note: Gtoe = gigatonnes of oil equivalent.

Sources: IEA Mobility Model (IEA, 2018a), using assessments based on UIC (2018a); UITP (2018d); ITDP (2018); National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018); Eurostat (2018); Indian Railways (2018a); Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2018); AAR (2017) and Russian Federation State Statistics Service (2018).

Key message • Energy demand from the transport sector has risen significantly in the past decade, driven mostly by growth in Asia and by demand in road transport.

The key reason for the gap between its share of activity and its energy use is rail’s much better energy efficiency, compared with road transport and aviation (Figure 1.21). When expressed as final energy use per passenger-kilometre or tonne-kilometre, the energy intensity of rail generally significantly outperforms other transport modes given its unique characteristics.29

29 Moving passengers and goods by rail is more energy efficient than by road by a wide margin. Rolling friction losses of steel-to-steel contacts are far lower than those of rubber tyres (on the order of 85-95% lower than those of truck tyres, for instance). Trains also benefit from the higher performance of electric motors versus internal combustion engines as well as high capacities, capable of transporting very large passenger and goods volumes per vehicle. In addition, rail has the advantage of infrequent stopping, with traffic segregation and right-of-way.

The Future of Rail

Opportunities for energy and the environment

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Notes: toe = tonne oil equivalent. The boxes in this figure indicate the range of average energy intensity in various countries, while the horizontal lines represent the world averages.

Sources: IEA Mobility Model (IEA, 2018a), using assessments based on UIC (2018a); UITP (2018d); ITDP (2018a); National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018); Eurostat (2018); Indian Railways (2018a); Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2018); AAR (2017) and Russian Federation State Statistics Service (2018).

Key message • Rail is the most energy-efficient means of motorised passenger transport, much more energy efficient than road freight.

Figure 1.22 Final energy demand in rail transport by region and type, 2000-17

Note: Mtoe = million tonnes of oil equivalent.

Sources: IEA assessment based on UIC (2018a); UITP (2018d); National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018); Eurostat (2018); Indian Railways (2018a); Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2018); AAR (2017) and Russian Federation State Statistics Service (2018).

Key message • Overall, rail energy demand has remained relatively constant in recent years. Today, diesel freight trains account for roughly half of rail energy use.

The trend of energy use in rail has varied considerably across countries (Figure 1.22). Since 2000, energy use for passenger transport has grown significantly in China and India. Energy use in rail also has increased in Japan, albeit more slowly, while it has slightly declined in the European Union, Russia and the United States, broadly mirroring trends in overall activity.

Rail is a significant energy consumer, but it is also a significant contributor to reducing energy demand. If all passenger and freight traffic currently served by rail transport were carried by

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alternative transport modes, global oil demand from transport today would be 16% higher (by 8 million barrels per day [mb/d]).30

Figure 1.23 Final energy demand in rail transport by region and type, 2000 and 2017

Notes: Mtoe = million tonnes of oil equivalent. The data shown are the result of a bottom-up analysis of data provided by the cited sources, calibrated using data from the top-down analysis of the IEA World Energy Balances database (IEA, 2018b). Small divergences may arise between the latter and the data used for the figure due to different modelling methodologies.

Sources: IEA Mobility Model (IEA, 2018a) using assessments based on UIC (2018a); UITP (2018b); National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018); Eurostat (2018); Indian Railways (2018a); Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2018); AAR (2017) and Russian Federation State Statistics Service (2018).

Key message • Energy demand for rail has declined in the European Union and Japan, remained constant in North America and increased in Russia, China and India in the period since 2000.

Electricity constitutes 47% of rail energy use, amounting to 290 terawatt-hours (TWh) (or 25 million tonnes of oil equivalent [Mtoe]) today, while diesel accounts for 53%, roughly equivalent to 29 Mtoe, or 0.6 mb/d (Figure 1.22, right). About 55% of electricity use in rail transport is for passenger services, and most of the diesel (85%) is for freight services. Countries with the highest shares of electricity use for rail transport tend to be those with the most passenger rail activity. For example, in the European Union, Japan and Korea, passenger trains account for well over 80% of train-kilometres and use electricity, whereas in the United States, passenger trains account for only 7% of train-kilometres and of which only 1% are fuelled by electricity. China, India and Russia fall somewhat in between, with 45% to 65% of all rail energy use in the form of electricity and 30% to 65% of all train-kilometres travelled by passenger

30 This assessment accounts for total product demand and the refining losses associated with it. However, it considers primary energy only, and not the conversion and transmission of electric power. For passenger transport, average energy intensity for road transport and aviation is taken into account to assess avoided energy demand. Energy intensity of heavy freight trucks is considered to asses avoided energy demand from freight transport.

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Opportunities for energy and the environment

trains. Further details on the forces behind rail transport electrification and, in particular, on the key determinants of these energy demand figures are presented in Box 1.6.

Box 1.6 Electrification of rail transport

Today, three-quarters of passenger rail transport activity takes place on electric trains, which is an increase from 60% in 2000, with the rest served by trains using diesel fuel (Figure 1.24).31 These figures take into account virtually all urban rail activity, all high-speed rail activity and most conventional rail activity. For freight rail, electric trains accounted for 48% of the total tonne-kilometres in 2016 (one-third in 2000). The regions with the highest share of electric train activity are Europe, Japan and Russia, while North and South America still rely heavily on diesel.

Figure 1.24 Passenger and freight rail transport activity by fuel type (left) and share of activity on electric trains (right), 1995-2016

Sources: IEA Mobility Model (IEA, 2018a) using assessments based on UIC (2018a); National Bureau of Statistics of China (2018); Eurostat (2018); Indian Railways (2018); Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism (2018); AAR (2017) and Russian Federation State Statistics Service (2018).

Key message • Global rail activity is slowly shifting towards electricity for both passenger and freight transport.

The importance of electric rail activity for passenger services contrasts with the dominance of non-electrified lines in rail networks (Figure 1.25). While three-quarters of passenger-kilometres and around half of tonne-kilometres worldwide are carried by electric trains, only one-third of rail tracks are equipped with electrical infrastructure.

31 Historically, the first trains used coal and a boiler to fuel steam engines. Such technology was still marginally used in China (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2018) and India (Indian Railways, 2018b) until the early 2000s, when it was fully discarded. Few trains use natural gas as a fuel. Very recently, pilot projects for hydrogen-powered trains have been undertaken in Germany (see Chapter 2, Box 2.1). These are not included in this discussion.