Energy efficiency and CO2 emissions

The global railway sector continuously works on increasing energy efficiency and reducing its CO₂ emissions. For example, 28 European UIC members have collectively committed to reducing CO₂ emissions per passenger-kilometre and per tonne-kilometre by 100% by 2050, and are well on track to meet this target.

Besides using renewable energy, improving energy efficiency is the most important aspect of the rail sector’s strategies to reduce CO₂ emissions, and, of course, offers significant business benefits as well as cost reductions.

Railway companies use a combination of technical and non-technical means to improve energy efficiency. Technical measures include using more modern rolling stock with lower energy consumption, or innovative technologies such as regenerative braking – a system that harnesses the energy produced during braking, transferring it back into the rail system so that other trains can use it. Non-technical measures include energy-efficient driving techniques, which focus on developing train drivers’ expertise to save energy or diesel fuel costs. Linked to both of these points is the installation of energy metering on trains so that operators can monitor their energy consumption and assess which approaches save the most energy.

Energy Efficiency and CO₂ Emissions Sector

The UIC Energy Efficiency and CO₂ Emissions Sector provides strategy, guidance and leadership across UIC, and the rail sector in general, on projects and issues related to energy efficiency and renewable energy in the railway sector. It also provides a forum for information-sharing on good practice. It consults and advises on energy efficiency-related UIC projects led by other platforms and working groups and provides expert positions on current issues (pending legislation, media enquiries, etc.) at UIC’s request. The UIC Energy Efficiency and CO₂ Emissions Sector deals with all aspects of energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions. More specifically, it is committed to publishing information on progress against the targets set by international organisations and coalitions using the data collected via the Traction Energy & Emissions Database (TED, previously the Environment Strategy Reporting System (ESRS)). The network organises many different workshops every year on new IRSs, energy infrastructure, efficient driving, etc.

Main activity & related projects

• Sector meetings & best practice workshops on energy efficiency and decarbonisation
• The Traction Energy & Emissions Database (TED, formerly Environment Strategy Reporting System (ESRS) and data collection
• Partnership with the IEA: for IEA’s Transport & rail sector energy models, and related reports (i.e. the Railway handbooks, the Future of rail report, Tracking Clean Energy progress website). See dedicated page
• SFERA (IRS 90940) project on the harmonisation of data exchange for train operation (DAS (Driving Advisory Systems), Digital Instructions (DI), Free Text Communication (FTC) for seamless connectivity for data exchange across countries, broader implementation, cross-compatibility (regardless of hardware), and reduced costs. IRS 90940 is available on the UIC publication website
• Traction Energy Settlement and Data Exchange: (IRS 90930): project on the harmonisation of measurement, exchange, validation and billing processes for traction energy, for cross-border traffic. IRS 90930 is available on the UIC publication website
• Contribution to the Sustainable Mobility 4 All (World Bank) reports to integrate the rail sector’s work on sustainable development
• Contribution to the SLoCaT Transport and Climate Change Reports
• Contribution to the deliverables for optimisation of energy usage in rail innovation within the scope of the European projects
• And more generally, contribution to UIC reports for advocacy and global reporting
• EcoPassenger and its API: travel footprint comparison tool
• EcoTransIT member of consortium

Energy efficiency and decarbonisation best practice workshops

Energy efficiency offers huge potential for cost savings - a 1% improvement in energy efficiency will save several million euros per year for most railways - and is also a way to reduce CO₂ emissions and secure strong environmental performance in support of the UIC-CER Sustainability Strategy. In recent years, many successfully concluded projects have delivered promising results in terms of energy efficiency (Energy Saving Taskforce, OPEUS, Railenergy, CleanER-D, Energy Consumption, Parked Trains, MERLIN, etc.), and further important projects are underway.

The workshops on best practices aim to support practical implementation and optimisation in the field. They bring together experts from railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and manufacturers to share experience, develop solutions and overcome obstacles.

Traction Energy & Emissions Database (TED, formerly the Environment Strategy Reporting System (ESRS))

In December 2010, with a view to taking a unified approach to environmental and sustainability issues in the European railway sector, UIC and CER voted on the document “Moving towards Sustainable Mobility: Rail Sector Strategy 2030 and beyond – Europe (UIC-CER 2010)”.

The strategy describes how the rail sector should be performing in environmental terms in 2030 and 2050 and focuses on four key environmental topics: climate protection, energy efficiency, exhaust emissions and noise. It sets out specific objectives to be met by 2030 and a vision for 2050.

In 2015, during COP 21, the objectives to be met by 2030 were revised and leaders of UIC member companies were invited to make a pledge of commitment to climate-friendly policies and to report to UIC in this respect. The relevant data has been collected on a regular basis since 2007 and is stored at http://www.CO2-data.org. This database also fed the “Ecopassenger” (travel) and “EcoTransit” (shipping) footprint calculators’ background data.

The data collected has also facilitated collaboration with the IEA, with UIC providing bottom-up data from the railway sector to feed the IEA’s energy model for transport. This in turn fed the various analyses and overviews of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the Railway Handbook and following publications. In 2019, these collaborative efforts gave rise to a report illustrating the prospects for a “business as usual” modal share scenario and comparing it with an alternative scenario with increased use of rail in modal share, called “The Future of Rail”.The report also provides an overview of electrification and railway development in India, which is progressing rapidly. The partnership evolved to more frequent and flexible publications about rail and the transport Sector, and again with the help of UIC, the IEA has published the Tracking Clean Energy Progress page, to monitor renewable energy deployment and related decarbonisation for transport, but also rail related assessments in other reports.

In 2019, UIC proposed to strengthen the initial commitments. The Members of the Energy and CO2 Sector agreed to transform the 2050 carbon neutrality vision into real targets. They also agreed to switch the baseline for emissions targets from 1990 to 2005, intensifying the efforts required to achieve the new 2030 targets, this given the advance of rail in energy efficiency and decarbonisation, and beside the increased apparent sustainability competitive edge of spreading hybrid or electric road vehicles. By changing the reference year (2005 instead of 1990) to when business had already taken the step to track their consumption & emissions, it means a lower reference value for reduction targets and thus, even more ambitious targets to reach.

The signees of this evolution and more details are visible here.

The methodology used to collate the railway operators' data is described in the following document: UIC ESRS Methodological Rules - Methodology and Policy

Traction energy settlement and data exchange

History: UIC leaflet 930

In Europe, traction units are increasingly being equipped with metering systems that collect data on energy consumption and traction unit location. Data exchange needs to be standardised for cross-border traffic to avoid a situation whereby different metering systems are installed on the basis of varying national specifications. In this context, a project was launched in 2005 to ensure accurate settlement of energy consumption for interoperable cross-border rail traffic in Europe.

Together with the work carried out by CENELEC to standardise metering equipment, the results of the project have enabled better energy consumption allocations based on actual energy consumption measurement.

UIC Leaflet 930, “Exchange of data for cross-border railway energy settlement”, was produced as an output of the initial project. The leaflet was published in November 2009. The purpose of UIC Leaflet 930 is to:

• Describe the processes and protocols used to exchange energy consumption data between infrastructure managers which, by respecting existing national systems, contribute to an improvement in European railway interoperability;

• Define the technical requirements for review and verification of data;

• Allow railway undertakings to identify their actual energy consumption and pay for exactly what is consumed.

UIC Leaflet 930 supporting documents

The following supporting documents to UIC Leaflet 930 were developed within the context of the Energy Billing project to support the implementation of energy billing systems.

• Supporting document 1: Border points and polygons
• Supporting document 2: Estimation systems for un-metered trains
• Supporting document 3: Right of access to the consumption data by railway undertakings and public information provided by infrastructure managers

IRS 90930 & Traction energy settlement working group

Two European Commission regulations approved in 2014 (1301 and 1302) introduce new Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) that reference CENELEC standard EN 50463, with a direct impact on UIC Leaflet 930. To ensure that the leaflet is compliant with the regulations, a UIC project was initiated in 2018 to revise the leaflet as a new International Railway Solution (IRS). Posters outlining the contents of IRS 90930 were presented to relevant stakeholders at UIC workshops held about the IRS 90930 that were initially published in 2020. IRS 90930 is available on the UIC publication website.

Rail transport and environment: facts and figures

Rail is one of the most energy efficient transport modes, generating significantly less CO₂ emissions than other modes. Increasing the modal share of rail in line with the 2011 Transport White Paper targets would result in an estimated reduction of 238 million tonnes of CO₂ a year, equivalent to 19% of EU transport emissions in 2010.

Travelling by rail is between three and ten times less CO₂-intensive compared with road or air transport. Rail’s share of transport energy consumption is less than 2%, despite a market share of over 8.5%. Land use per passenger-km is about 3.5 times lower for rail than for cars. Average external costs (i.e. costs of negative effects of transport, such as air pollution, not paid by users themselves but borne by society at large) are more than four times less for rail than for road in respect of passenger services, and over six times less for freight services.

To drive continued improvement of the rail sector’s environmental footprint, CER and UIC’s European members have agreed on targets up to 2030 and a vision for sustainable mobility up to 2050.

Zero-carbon railways

Reporting green electricity use

The “Zero-Carbon Railways” report was published as the result of an intensive year’s work, which involved consulting with relevant stakeholders (IEA, EEA, DG Energy, etc.) and members of the UIC Energy Efficiency and CO₂ Emissions Experts Network in order to agree a common approach for reporting on carbon performance internally and at sectoral level (ESRS).

Data shows that the European railways have significantly increased renewable electricity use over the past number of years. Decarbonisation of electricity production is a key factor in CO₂ emission reduction: the higher the percentage of renewable electricity used for traction, the lower the level of CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere.

In this context, a transparent methodology for tracking green electricity purchasing is a top priority for the UIC Environment Strategy Reporting System.

The “Zero-Carbon Railways” report was published as the result of an intensive year’s work, which involved consulting with relevant stakeholders (IEA, EEA, DG Energy, etc.) and members of the UIC Energy Efficiency and CO2 Emissions Experts Network to agree on a common approach for reporting on carbon performance internally and at the sectoral level (ESRS).

Weltweite UIC-Bahnstatistiken für 2008