The Environmental Impact of Rail

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF RAIL: LESSONS FROM KIWIRAIL
CARBON FOOTPRINTS
Marta Karlik-Neale, Vanessa Browne, Paul Anderson,
MSc Environmental Science, MPhil Resource and Environmental Planning, Dip OccH&S
URS New Zealand Ltd, Kiwirail Ltd
SUMMARY
19.7% of New Zealands greenhouse gas emissions come from domestic transportation [1]. We
demonstrate the benefits of carbon footprinting and how it helps to improve rail as a carbon responsible
option, both in terms of reducing carbon intensity and allowing the industry to demonstrate its environmental
credentials. This paper presents an overview of the environmental impacts of rail services in comparison
with other transport modes, covering greenhouse gas emissions from fuel, refrigerants, electricity, organic
waste and materials; other environmental impacts; and the wider sustainability agenda.
KiwiRail has been measuring its environmental performance since 2006 following the Greenhouse Gas
Protocol methodology [2]. This has enabled KiwiRail to understand its key impacts and opportunities for
improvement. Robust data is needed both to underpin business decisions and to be able to communicate
confidently and transparently with increasingly eco-aware customers. The process of measuring greenhouse
gas emissions was not without hurdles. This paper shares lessons learnt in regards to data collection,
setting objectives and developing carbon reduction plans. Differences between organisational and life cycle
approaches to measurement of carbon intensity are outlined, and the implications of the New Zealand
Emissions Trading Scheme are discussed.
Ideas are provided on methods to stimulate co-operation within the industry to share environmental
performance data for benchmarking, and common development of carbon reduction solutions.
1. INTRODUCTION
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC)
consists of KiwiRail Ltd and OnTrack Infrastructure
Ltd, known collectively as KiwiRail. KiwiRail owns
and manages rail infrastructure and services (both
freight and passenger) in New Zealand, as well as
the Cook Strait ferries.
KiwiRail Limited includes rail freight, long distance
passenger rail (TranzScenic), and Wellington
commuter services (TranzMetro). It also includes
the Interislander ferries, mechanical services, and
a corporate head office. KiwiRail Limited was
purchased by the New Zealand government from
Toll Holdings in 2008.
KiwiRail Network (formerly OnTrack) owns and
manages the New Zealand rail network.
KiwiRail has been working with URS New Zealand
Ltd
(URS)
since
2006,
measuring
its
environmental performance on an annual basis.
LCA: life cycle assessment

3.
ENVIRONMENTAL
AND
WIDER
SUSTAINABILITY IMPACTS OF TRANSPORT
In 2008 URS completed a high level review of the
environmental and wider sustainability impacts of
the transport modes within the KiwiRail portfolio
(Toll NZ at the time) i.e. rail, road and cross-Cook
Strait shipping. URS based this review on the
sustainability reports of international transport
operators. The purpose of this review was to
enable KiwiRail to continue to prioritise and
implement environmental management and
improvement activities.
The key transportation impact URS evaluated was
the contribution to climate change of the KiwiRail
portfolio via the emission of greenhouse gases.
The results of this carbon footprint evaluation are
described in the next section.
2. NOTATION
GHG: greenhouse gas or gases
URS: URS New Zealand Ltd
KiwiRail: KiwiRail Ltd
CO2e: Carbon dioxide equivalent
ETS: New Zealands Emissions Trading Scheme
Conference On Railway Engineering
Wellington, Sept 12-15, 2010
Karlik-Neale, Browne, Anderson

URS New Zealand Ltd and KiwiRail Ltd
The Environmental Impact of Rail:

Lessons from KiwiRail Carbon Footprints
The potential environmental and sustainability

impacts identified in addition to greenhouse gas
emissions and relevant to rail transportation are
described in this section.
reduction of water resources available for energy

generation and agriculture. Water also needs to
be treated, which leads to additional materials and
energy use.
3.1 Fuel Use
3.6 Land Use
KiwiRail consume fuel in their freight and

passenger network. Combustion of fuel leads to a
range of emissions that can include nitrogen
oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), ground level
ozone and particulates. These emissions can
degrade air quality creating potential human health
impacts, plant health impacts and acidification of
water resources. The severity of these impacts
depends on the quality of the combustion, filtering
methodologies and location of emissions. Fuel
use also creates impacts related to the source of
the fuel including potential loss of biodiversity and
depletion
of
non
renewable
resources.
Combustion of fuel also produces carbon dioxide
(CO2); we have discussed the impact of carbon
emissions in Section 4.
KiwiRails land use for transportation infrastructure

relates in particular to the opportunity cost in land
occupation displacement of biodiversity areas,
but can also create economic and social impacts
e.g. the cost of land and severance of
communities by rail corridors.
3.2 Electricity Use
3.8 Hazardous Substances
KiwiRail uses electricity for some of their freight

and passenger network and in their buildings.
Most electricity generated in New Zealand is
renewable however it still contributes to issues
related to displacement of biodiversity (land
clearance for hydro projects) and social impacts
(e.g. location of wind farms). Impacts also exist in
relation to the non renewable, thermal component
of New Zealands energy generation profile.
KiwiRail use hazardous substances in their

operational and maintenance programmes. Any
discharges of hazardous substances or accidental
losses can have an impact both on human health
and the natural environment.
3.3 Waste Generation

KiwiRail waste is generated from freight
packaging, passengers, offices and workshops.
Disposal of waste to landfill requires large land
areas for disposal and is often a source of
hazardous emissions e.g. toxic leachate and
ozone depleting emissions to air. Disposal of
sewage creates impacts in relation to energy
consumption, chemicals and impacts on water
quality.
3.7 Noise and Light Emissions

KiwiRail can generate noise and light emissions
via the rail network, trains, the ferry service and in
their workshops. Environmental impacts of noise
and artificial light can create impacts on human
use and enjoyment of an area, but also the natural
environment e.g. noise or light affecting animal
behaviour.
3.9 Transport of Invasive Organisms

KiwiRails transportation operation poses a risk of
introduction of new organisms into the
environment, which could significantly change the
ecosystem and displace endemic species
(terrestrial and marine).
3.10 Wider Sustainability Impacts
In addition to the environmental impacts outlined
above, URS identified the following wider
sustainability impacts that may occur in relation to
rail transportation:
provision of public transport options
3.4 Material Use
passenger/worker/public safety or incident rate
Like all businesses KiwiRail consume a wide

range of materials. Particularly significant are the
materials used for the infrastructure network,
freight and rolling stock. Consumption of materials
can create impacts including emissions of
pollutants and use of hazardous substances, land
use and resource use.
community engagement/ contributions
cultural awareness and sensitivity
design considerations e.g. usability, visual

impact, urban design
employment conditions and employee

relations
client experience/ engagement
key stakeholder relationships and

management
contractor relations and conditions
3.5 Water Use

KiwiRail consume water in their offices, stations,
trains and workshops. Abstraction of water from
the natural environment can cause biodiversity
issues (rivers falling below water levels acceptable
for certain species, degrading water quality);


supply chain issues.
3.11 Comparison of Transport Modes

As a result of this investigation, URS identified the
following key areas (in addition to GHG emissions)
of high impact for each transport mode of Toll NZ:
Rail freight - land use.
Road freight - fuel use, waste generation,

water use, traffic congestion, light emissions.
Shipping - fuel use, particulate emissions,

sewage and ballast water disposal.
Rail passenger - electricity use, waste

generation, land use.
KiwiRail used this overall assessment of

environmental and sustainability impacts alongside
the results of a carbon footprint exercise to
prioritise its environmental management activities
going forward.
4 KIWIRAILS CARBON FOOTPRINT
URS evaluated KiwiRails carbon footprint for the
financial year 01 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 in
order to understand the key GHG emission
sources of the operation and where KiwiRail
should focus going forward.

the atmosphere and oxidation of lubricants, (scope

1), purchased electricity (scope 2) and indirect
emissions from transmission of gas and electricity,
waste decomposition in a landfill, business travel
and embodied carbon in the production of
materials and stock used by KiwiRail (scope 3).
URS calculated total carbon dioxide equivalent
(CO2e) emissions per passenger and per tonne of
freight transported by different modes.
URS endeavoured to use the most up to date,
reliable and accurate emission factor available for
each emission source. Where uncertainty existed
around the suitability of an emission factor, URS
cross checked the preferred factor against a
second to ensure a close alignment. Most of the
emission factors are sourced from a report issued
by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE)
Guidance for voluntary, corporate greenhouse gas
reporting: Data and Methods for the 2007
Calendar Year [3]. This annually released report
provides a set of central Government derived
emission factors for use in organisational GHG
inventories. The methodology provided in the
report is consistent with the GHG Protocol, but
presents a simplified version.
4.1 Methodology
URS followed the methodology outlined in the
Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting
and Reporting Standard [2] (the Protocol). This
standard was selected as it is provided for
organisational GHG inventories and provides a
robust and practical methodology that builds on
the expertise of practitioners worldwide. The
Protocol provides a bottom up approach to GHG
inventories
for
organisations;
requiring
organisations to collect and report on their own
activity data. This differs from the top down
approach adopted for national inventories by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) which is based on total national emissions.
In accordance with the Protocol, URS applied the
principles
of
relevance,
completeness,
consistency, transparency and accuracy to the
carbon footprint assessment.
The organisational boundary of KiwiRail was
determined using the operational control
approach.
Under this approach, KiwiRails
organisational boundary is defined as all
operations over which it has majority operational
control.
This boundary aligns with KiwiRails
organisational structure.
The operational boundary identifies sources of
emissions that fall within the organisational
boundary. It includes direct emissions from liquid
fuel and gas combustion, release of refrigerants to


4.2 Results
The results reported in this section are from the
report KiwiRail Group Carbon Footprint 2007/08
produced by URS New Zealand Limited on behalf
of KiwiRail [4].
KiwiRails total carbon emissions in 2007/08 were
342,260 tCO2e. KiwiRail Freight emitted 172,284
tCO2e (Figure 1), Scenic (long distance passenger
rail) 7,080 tCO2e (Figure 2) and Metro (Wellington
passenger rail) 6,472 tCO2e. The main source of
emissions for Freight and Scenic was diesel
(respectively 93.8% and 92.8%) and for Metro the
main source was electricity (62.4%) followed by
diesel (23.1%). Other carbon emission sources
are embodied carbon and waste.
Figure 1 KiwiRail Freight CO2e emissions by
source
Other transport
0.15%
Other energy
Support fleet
2.53%
0.52%
Locomotive
electricity
2.89%
Waste
0.07%
Embodied
carbon
0.06%
Locomotive
diesel and lube
oils
93.78%
Figure 2 TranzScenic CO2e emissions by

source
TranzScenic CO2-e emissions by source
Support fleet
0.37%
Other transport
0.64%
Other energy
1.34%
Waste
3.59%
Refrigerants
0.52%
did not follow standards for life cycle assessment

(LCA) such as ISO 14044 [5] or PAS 2050 [6].
These figures should therefore not be compared
against others without caution.
The calculation does include the major sources of
emissions (operational emissions), providing some
level of confidence in accuracy.
Emissions intensity figures are influenced by both
total emissions for each business unit, but also by
the utilisation of the transport mode.
URS estimated that KiwiRail Freight provides
greatest efficiency when compared to the
Interislander; estimating the following emissions
required to transport 1 tonne of freight over 1
kilometre: 225g CO2e for Interislander sea freight
and 38g CO2e for KiwiRail Freight.
For passenger services, URS estimate that
TranzMetro provides the greatest efficiency (25g
CO2e per passenger km), followed by Interislander
sea transport (29g CO2e) and then TranzScenic
(73g CO2e). URS divided Interislander GHG
emissions between passenger and freight
transport based on a proportion of weight.
The results appear to suggest that for KiwiRail rail
is the most carbon efficient option for transport of
both freight and people. Electric trains are less
carbon intensive than diesel powered locomotives.
Any move toward an electrified rail network should
be considered against the likely generation type;
renewable or thermal. Other fuel strategies for
example biofuels may provide better short and
medium term options.
Embodied
carbon
0.02%
5. ORGANISATIONAL
CARBON FOOTPRINT
EMU electricity
0.84%
Locomotive
diesel
92.76%
Figure 3 TranzMetro CO2e emissions by source

Other transport
0.25%
Other energy
9.36%
Support fleet
0.39%
Waste
4.16%
Embodied carbon
0.05%
Locomotive diesel
23.14%
Refrigerants
0.28%
EMU electricity
62.36%
4.3 Carbon Intensity of Different Modes of

Transport
Calculating the emissions intensity of different
modes of transport allows a degree of comparison
between modes.
URS estimated the carbon
intensities for KiwiRail based on data received for
the organisational carbon footprint. This estimate
VERSUS
SERVICE
Until 2008/09 KiwiRail commissioned URS to

measure its carbon footprint based on an
organisational approach. As noted above, URS
also estimated carbon intensities of different
KiwiRail
services
using
data
from
the
organisational carbon footprint.
Emerging best practice is for carbon footprints for
products and services to be completed based on a
life cycle assessment approach. This is driven by
increasing consumer awareness of climate change
and allows for GHG comparison of similar products
or services. Service footprints are not usually
undertaken annually, but rather they are reviewed
as required following any material changes in the
business.
A life cycle carbon footprint considers all
emissions throughout the life cycle of the service,
from planning and construction, operation and
disposal.
From 2009/10 KiwiRail will also carry out an
assessment of GHG emissions for its provided
services based on a life cycle assessment

approach. KiwiRail intend to use the PAS 2050

Specification for the assessment of the life cycle
greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services
methodology for this work [6] (PAS 2050). The
ISO standard for carbon footprinting of products is
still under development.
5.1 Objectives
It is useful to clarify the different objectives of
service and organisational carbon footprints.
Service carbon footprint the objective is to

calculate the footprint of a specific service in
accordance with existing standards to provide
information about all emissions considered to
be material within the life cycle of the provision
of that service. Service carbon footprints are
provided for a functional unit, for example a
tonne/km. Service carbon footprints can be
used to identify possible GHG efficiency
improvements up and down the supply chain.
Organisational footprint the objective of an
organisational carbon footprint is to estimate
all the GHG emissions considered to be
material for an organisation within a year. This
allows the organisation to focus on the key
emission sources throughout that organisation,
useful in setting annual targets and monitoring
annual performance.
When comparing service carbon footprints care is

required to check the boundary applied, the
emission sources included and the emission
factors applied to each footprint. Using standards
like PAS 2050 helps improve comparability by
standardising approach but different organisations
will make different decisions with regards to what
is in and out of a boundary. Also the standards
are new and few comparable organisations,
especially in New Zealand are using the standard.
Most New Zealand organisations who use PAS
2050 are food exporters.
5.2 Process of Compiling the Data
An organisational footprint requires annual
collection of data and an up-date of emission
factors, as well as up-dates to any carbon model
used (organisational boundary and/or emission
sources) as required.

5.3 Inclusion of Emission Sources in the LCA

Approach
PAS 2050 requires that the inclusion of emission
sources within a product or service life cycle
carbon footprint should follow any already
established ISO Product Category Rules, which
specifically list what should be included and what
should not. Another rule guiding inclusion of what
is in or out of a life cycle carbon footprint is the
significance of the source. PAS 2050 requires that
all sources are included in initial calculations, but
then anything below 1% of total emissions (total of
all excluded emission sources) can be excluded
from the final results.
5.4 Data Accuracy
PAS 2050 requires that emission factors used for
life cycle calculation of GHG emissions are
themselves emission factors that include the life
cycle of the emission source being considered
where possible. Otherwise data quality is treated
in similar way to an organisational footprint - any
data gaps or challenges should be reported
alongside
the
results.
Most
standards
recommend/require that the data is verified prior to
public reporting by an independent party.
6. IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND
EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME
URS also undertook a review of the impact of the
NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on KiwiRail
operations.
The ETS introduces a price on greenhouse gas
emissions, providing an incentive to reduce
emissions and enhance forest sinks. Trading
emission units provides flexibility in how
participants comply with their obligations and
encourages least-cost responses.
Currently the ETS includes forestry, stationary
energy, industrial processes and liquid fossil fuels.
Waste, synthetic gases and the agriculture sector
will all be bought into the ETS in the next five year.
The ETS covers all six gases specified in the
Kyoto Protocol (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6).
Once completed, a service carbon footprint

requires that the carbon model and data collection
be updated only following major changes to the
services delivery or product manufacture.
The ETS is a regulatory scheme under which

entities that are undertaking activities described by
regulation are required to participate in the
scheme. These participants have to surrender
emission units covering all of their CO2e emissions
for prescribed activities. This is in contrast to a
voluntary scheme where businesses report their
emissions without any legal or financial
obligations.
KiwiRail have found that most of the data required

for the service carbon footprint can be derived
from the organisational carbon footprint.
Many participants that are required to surrender

emission units will initially be allocated a
substantial number of free units.
The liquid fossil fuel and stationary energy sectors
will not receive any free allocations as it is


expected that the costs will be passed through to

consumers of liquid fossil fuels (i.e. the transport
sector).
Even though KiwiRail use very large volumes of
liquid fossil fuels, KiwiRail will not directly
participate and do not fulfil the requirements to
voluntarily opt in to participate. On the other hand
KiwiRail will most likely face higher fuel and
electricity costs, when upstream suppliers are
brought into the scheme.
KiwiRail owns and is responsible for large areas of
land along its railway corridors. However, most of
these areas are not compliant with the forest
definitions under the ETS and therefore not
applicable to the regulations.
KiwiRail may have some obligations under the
ETS in relation to its foundry operations.
7. BENCHMARKING AND
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
SHARING
OF
KiwiRail and URS attempted to benchmark

KiwiRail against rail companies in Australia.
Based on only fragmentary data available, KiwiRail
trains appeared to be more carbon efficient. This is
likely to be due to a much greater use of
renewable energy in New Zealand.
A key challenge associated with benchmarking
results was that international data was often
incomplete and it was not possible to compare
methodologies, scope and boundaries. Variability
exists between carbon footprint boundaries and
reporting methods. The Australian rail companies
all report using Australian National Greenhouse
Accounts Factors. These factors vary from the
ones used in New Zealand. This is particularly
true
for
electricity
which
is
generated
predominately from coal in Australia and therefore
has a higher emissions profile than New Zealand
electricity which is generated predominately from
hydro. There may also be variability in the types
of emission sources included in Scope 3.
Without being able to benchmark data with
confidence it is difficult to evaluate performance
and set priorities.
KiwiRail note that a number of other industries
have come up with accords to agree on
methodologies and share carbon footprinting data.
KiwiRail would like to encourage similar
development in the Asia Pacific rail industry.
8. USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
KiwiRail and URS are now in the process of
completing KiwiRails fourth organisational carbon
footprint and as noted above, their first life cycle
carbon footprint.
In the meantime the company has developed a
much better understanding of the variety of
impacts it has on the environment including land
use, fuel consumption, waste generation, water

consumption, particulate emissions, embodied
carbon and sewage and wastewater disposal.
KiwiRail undertook an evaluation of the
significance of those impacts using carbon
equivalents as a normalising factor for
comparison. Further analysis looked into existing
opportunities to reduce emissions.
KiwiRail prepared Emission Reduction Plans for
each of its businesses. Significant sources of
emissions, with existing opportunities to improve
performance were given highest priority, but some
less significant sources which were fairly easy to
improve like waste and business travel were also
considered. This gave KiwiRail confidence that the
actions focus on both important and achievable
issues.
KiwiRail found that having reliable environmental
data was a significant factor in setting key
performance indicators both for the overall
company and separate business units. A number
of challenges were encountered around data
reliability. While the majority of environmental
data was of a high quality, there were numerous
issues with less significant sources of emissions
especially indirect emissions, where support from
suppliers was required. Also due to on-going
restructures of the company it was difficult to
maintain historical consistency of data. The team
took the approach of focusing on ensuring high
quality of data for the largest direct emissions
fuel and electricity.
KiwiRail prepared carbon reduction targets to help
drive their Emission Reduction Plans. KiwiRail set
both total carbon footprint reduction targets and
carbon intensity reduction targets. It is good
practice for an organisation to aim at reducing total
emissions rather than intensity per unit of product
or service; however intensity figures are useful in
tracking performance and reflecting the overall
environmental objectives of the organisation.
KiwiRail businesses are very dependant on wider
economic performance and the tonnage or number
of passengers transported fluctuates significantly
from year to year. This is directly reflected in their
fuel and electricity use. As such total increases or
decreases in their carbon footprint can be more
reflective of the economic situation rather than
their environmental performance making carbon
intensity results useful.
The Emission Reduction Plans were developed in
a series of workshops with the individual business
units.
The
participants
reviewed
current
performance improvement actions and activities
undertaken by others in the industry. The priority
actions for the following year were selected based
on existing plans, the highest level of efficiency in
improving performance, and feasibility. Availability
of detailed environmental data meant that the
discussions were well established in the context of

actual impact on performance and the participants

could model outcomes in real time at the meeting.
This meant that any targets set were realistic and
the teams felt confident that they knew how to
achieve them.
9. CONCLUSION
KiwiRail have been estimating their organisational
carbon footprint for three years. This has provided
useful data for the organisation to focus on
reducing key GHG emission sources in the
organisation overall. KiwiRail have also used this
information to estimate carbon intensities of
different transport modes within its business.
KiwiRails key GHG emission source is diesel,
followed by electricity. Other emission sources
include embodied carbon in the network and stock
and emissions from waste disposal.

Management
Life
Cycle
AssessmentRequirements and Guidelines, 2006.
[6] British Standards Institute, Carbon Trust,
DEFRA, PAS 2050: 2008 Specification for the
assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas
emissions of goods and services, October 2008.
Using this information and an understanding of its

wider environmental and sustainability context,
KiwiRail have prepared and are implementing
carbon reduction plans in each of its businesses.
In order to better understand the carbon impacts
up and down the supply chain, and to enable
provision of this information to its own customers,
KiwiRail are now preparing a life cycle GHG
assessment of its key services provided. It is
anticipated that most data for this exercise will be
derived from the organisational carbon footprint.
In order to continue to understand its carbon
footprint profile and to share opportunities for
reducing emissions, KiwiRail would like to
investigate opportunities for a forum of other rail
providers in the future.
REFERENCES
[1] Ministry for the Environment, New Zealands
Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2007, New
Zealand Government, Wellington, April 2009.
[2] World Resources Institute and World Business
Council for Sustainable Development, The
Greenhouse
Gas
Protocol:
A
Corporate
Accounting and Reporting Standard, WRI and
WBCSD, March 2004.
[3] Ministry for the Environment, Guidance for
voluntary corporate greenhouse gas reporting,
Data and Methods for the 2008 Calendar Year,
New Zealand Government, Wellington, 2009.
[4] URS New Zealand Ltd, KiwiRail Group Carbon
Footprint 2007/0, January 2010.
[5] International Organisation for Standardization
(2006)
ISO
14044:
2006
Environmental


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THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF RAIL: LESSONS FROM KIWIRAIL

LCA: life cycle assessment

Karlik-Neale, Browne, Anderson