Fundamental investigation of LCA of cross tie

Abstract

As environmental preservation becomes an increasingly important issue on a global scale, railway enterprises are also required to assess and reduce environmental loads of materials used in railway systems. Such loads are mainly related to vehicles and facilities. In this study, we estimated the environmental load of railway facilities, and conducted a case study on four types of cross tie (wood, concrete, synthetic and steel) by applying the LCA method at the production stage. As a result, we found that CO2 emission from total ties in Japan was about 55,000 tons per year.