The Future of Rail
Opportunities for energy and the environment
IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
•Minimising costs per passenger-kilometre or tonne-kilometre moved, ensuring that the preconditions for maximum rail network use are in place (e.g. through urban planning
measures that provide integration of different modes of transport with rail networks), taking steps to remove technical barriers (e.g. through the adoption of international standards which facilitate inter-operability) and fully exploiting digital technologies to ensure that rail
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•Maximising revenues from rail systems, capitalising on the “aggregation” capacity of railway stations (land value capture), a model which has already made several rail systems profitable. In this model, the increase in value of commercial and residential properties in the proximity of stations that arises as a result of improved mobility options and greater activity is “captured” to finance rail systems.
•Ensuring that all forms of transport pay not only for the use of the infrastructure they need, but also for the impacts they generate (e.g. through road pricing and congestion charges). The opportunity for effective action on this front will be enhanced by increased transport electrification and the transition towards road vehicle automation, both of which are likely to require price signals to modulate demand.
This report highlights the capacity of rail transport to deliver economic and environmental benefits, even in the face of widespread adoption of efficient road vehicles and low-carbon energy (regardless of the pace at which these other important developments occur). The opportunities offered by rail transport to meet energy and environmental goals cannot be the sole determinant of transport policies, but these objectives can be successfully integrated into the development of those policies.
IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
Structure of the report
The first chapter describes the current status of the world’s railways. It examines the main elements that have shaped the systems and their significance in terms of both the energy sector and environmental concerns.
Chapter 2 outlines how the railway system and its energy needs are likely to evolve to 2050 on the basis of the policies, regulations and projects so far announced. These projections constitute the Base Scenario.
Chapter 3 examines the implications of capitalising the capacity of rail to meet multiple policy goals. The High Rail Scenario shows the extent to which a significant shift of passengers and goods to rail transport, compared with the Base Scenario, could be achieved, the policy instruments which might be deployed to that end and the environmental and financial implications of such a scenario. Chapter 4 takes a deep dive into railway systems in India, a country which currently stands out globally for the proportion of passenger movements that takes place by rail and the significant share of goods transported by rail. Both the challenges and opportunities are immense.
Definitions
Classification of rail transport services
This report assesses the contribution railways can make to providing various types of services, referred to as passenger or freight rail. Categorising sub-sets of passenger and freight rail is a challenging undertaking. For passenger rail, this has been addressed by considering key
IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
IEA 2019. All rights reserved. |
The Future of Rail |
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Opportunities for energy and the environment |
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characteristics, such as speed and location, but always within the limitations of the data available. The categories and terminology employed are:
•Conventional rail, covering mediumto long-distance train journeys with a maximum speed under 250 kilometres per hour and suburban train journeys connecting urban centres with surrounding areas.
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• High-speed rail, defined as rail services over long distances between stations, operating at a maximum speed above 250 kilometres per hour.
• Metro rail, refers to high-frequency services within cities, designed for high capacity transport (standing passengers and many wide doors for rapid boarding and exit), which are fully separated from other traffic and are often developed as an underground and/or elevated network.
• Light rail, refers to tramways and other urban transport systems, most often at street level and offering lower capacity and speed compared with metro rail.
For the purpose of this analysis, metro rail and light rail are often aggregated as urban rail (that is rail within cities and the immediately surrounding area), while conventional and high-speed railway systems are together referred to as non-urban rail. In the discussion of rail infrastructure, the term conventional rail lines (or tracks) designates the infrastructure used by both passenger conventional rail and freight rail.
Figure In-1 Classification of various railway services and infrastructure
In addition to metro systems and light rail, urban areas are also serviced by commuter, or suburban, rail systems, connecting the city centres with suburban areas. While commuter rail services constitute a significant proportion of passenger transport activity, they are not