Electrification of the Portuguese Railway: Life Cycle Analysis of Current Scenario and Future Decarbonization Goals

This chapter presents the first environmental life cycle impact assessment of the Portuguese conventional railway, through a LCA methodology that can be universally applied to other territories. The environmental performance and hotspots of both the infrastructure and the rolling stock of the Douro line were evaluated. The present setting (with the simultaneous use of electric and diesel trains) and three supplementary scenarios were analyzed. These additional scenarios theorize a situation where the railway line and rolling stock are completely electrified: the first considering the present Portuguese electricity production mix; the second scenario considering the projected Portuguese electric mix for 2030; and the third scenario with the mix projections for 2050. This permitted the gathering of conclusions on both the immediate and future environmental sustainability of the Portuguese railway, in line with European decarbonization goals. For the present setting, the use stage represents the majority of carbon emissions (74%). Most of this impact comes from the fuel burned on the diesel trains, and in smaller part the electricity used on the electric rolling stock and the powering of infrastructure. The first of the alternative settings, complete electrification with the current electric mix, leads to an immediate decrease of 38% in carbon emissions, with the projections for 2030 increasing this number to 56%, and the 2050 projections to 63%. This highlights the importance of electricity decarbonization on railway environmental performance, with the lessons learned from this Portuguese use-case also being valid for the rest of the world.