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EU-Projekt ECORailS
EU Project ECORailS:
Improved energy efficiency for regional passenger transport
Rom May 2009 to June 2011, the German Pro-Rail Alliance (Allianz pro Schiene) was a participant in the international project ECORailS. ECORailS is an acronym of 'Energy Efficiency and Environmental Criteria in the Awarding of Regional Rail Transport Vehicles and Services' and is being supported by the EU as part of its programme 'Intelligent Energy for Europe'. The project has developed guidelines for Europe's Passenger Transport Authorities (PTAs) that will help them to integrate environmental criteria into their invitations for tenders and public service contracts.
The main focus is on reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, in compliance with the aims of the European Funding Programme. The ECORailS project's goal therefore is to develop guidelines that lead to a reduction of the specific energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the regional railways: by 5 % in comparison with current rules; by 10 % compared with currently existing rolling stock; and a system wide reduction of 15 % (EU wide regional passenger rail) by 2020.
Target group - Public Transport Administrations
Why is the project's approach to target the PTAs contracting regional rail transport? Why should PTAs be interested in demanding energy savings? The key points here are climate policy and energy prices. Climate protection, particularly Europe's need to drastically reduce CO2 emissions, has become significantly more important, not least when it comes to transport policy. At the same time, the rising cost of energy and the cost of purchasing CO2 emissions rights is also an economic burden on rail transport.
In all European countries, the state specifies the requirements for the quality and the financing conditions of passenger rail transport, which is commissioned and largely financed by public authorities as a co-operative public service. In more and more countries, there are dedicated government agencies or specially organised PTAs that contract private or state train operating companies (TOCs), or their own TOCs , with the job of running transport services.
PTAs fully control the processes of inviting tenders and awarding contracts, and can influence energy savings in regional public transport. This will enable them to save costs and also make a contribution towards climate protection. When it comes to energy efficiency, economy and ecology are two sides of the same coin. What makes this approach especially attractive for PTAs is that rail transport offers substantial potential for saving energy, sometimes even in the short to medium-term.
In Germany, regional public transport has already reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 35% in recent years. But there is still potential for more savings. The ECORailS project wants to achieve a reduction of 15 percent across Europe.
For public finances, integrating environmental factors will considerably reduce risk exposure - not only to future energy costs but also to noise and exhaust emissions. The reason: new EU laws will lead to regulations on noise abatement and clean air planning that will force environmental agencies to act. By taking forward-looking environmental requirements into account when procuring rolling stock or awarding contracts, PTAs could avoid having to decommission or expensively refurbish relatively new vehicles.
The use of fuel efficient vehicles often means higher initial investment costs, particularly if they incorporate new technology that has just become available for series production. These extra costs often cannot be recovered through savings during the initial vehicle deployment or contract period. However, the PTAs will be creating a demand for energy efficient vehicles that will accelerate the process of innovation, which in turn will lower costs during a later contract period.
Legally Compliant Guidelines
The Guidelines that habe been developed by the ECORailS project must take into account European public procurement laws to ensure that they will be of practical use for regional transport PTAs from as many European countries as possible. Therefore the Guidelines will contain prepared legally compliant text passages that will help to incorporate energy efficiency criteria into invitations for tender and awarded contracts.
An analysis of the regulatory situation within the EU and the six countries cooperating in the ECORailS project has shown that it is permitted to stipulate, or give a higher weighting to, environmental criteria when inviting tenders. This also applies when the demands are very ambitious and exceed the vehicle licensing regulations or conditions for using the rail network.
Initial positive experience with environmental criteria has already been made in regional public transport. For example, when the LNVG in Lower Saxony invited tenders for diesel locomotives on the route Hamburg to Cuxhaven, it successfully stipulated noise emission limits for new vehicles that exceeded current regulations. Other transport contracts stipulate that train drivers must know how to maximize energy efficiency when driving.
It is important that the guidelines are formulated to relate to functionality and do not, for example, specify a particular manufacturer's products. There are simplified possibilities for the use of environmental criteria for freely negotiated contracts or when the local authority is directly awarding a contract to its own TOC. These types of awarding procedures are provided for in the EU Directive 1370/2007. There are both pro as well as cons that have to be evaluated according to the situation.
Campus "ECORailS"
Extracts from the Guidelines, background information and the text modules are provided on the project´s web page. A quiz makes the beginning: To our quiz. Please click here to get the welcome page of the Campus "ECORailS".
Regional Transport Awarding Procedures in Practice.
The ECORailS Guidelines for PTA also cover the political, regulatory and economic frameworks. However, the focus is on awarding contracts for regional passenger transport: concrete criteria for assessing energy consumption, information on the latest technology including cost-benefit analysis, and details on particularly promising technologies and operational measures. The Guidelines will deal with all these aspects in a way that matches day-to-day operations.
The fact that ECORailS will take a closer look at new technologies is intended to show PTAs what energy saving potential there is and what the approximate costs will be. This also includes details on the technologies which already possess a proven operational track record and those which are still being tested. This is important in order to be able to decide how much weighting should be given to energy efficiency and which rolling stock standards should be mandatory.
However, when assessing tenders it is not enough to simply compare the specific traction energy consumption that results from vehicle construction. The technologies and measures that will additionally be given precedence by the ECORailS project include energy efficient driving, standby functionality (parked train mode), energy storage on the vehicle (electrical and diesel traction) and in stationary installations.
The process of awarding contracts for regional passenger transport, optimised for energy efficiency, could work like this: The PTA could stipulate an energy consumption maximum that is already standard for vehicles currently on the market. Sensibly charging and distributing the energy costs will help mobilise additional potential for saving energy that can be relatively easy to achieve. Additional commitments on energy efficient operations made by tenderers can be taken into account during the awarding procedure with the appropriate weighting.
The ECORailS Guidelines additionally show in which phases of the awarding procedures the issue of energy efficiency should be considered. On different information levels, the Guidelines and its Annexes contain extensive descriptions, background information and suggestions for text passages. These information are useful for all current types of award procedures and for the procurement of rolling stock, for example for PTAs' vehicle pools.
ECORailS has developed Guidelines for PTAs to help them achieve greater energy efficiency in regional passenger transport. They were tested in the region Berlin-Brandenburg, and other places.
ECORailS: Consultation ensures applicability
The ECORailS Guidelines were developed in cooperation with all interested parties: PTAs for regional passenger transport, TOCs, rolling stock manufacturers. To obtain the greatest possible response and to ensure that the project's results are applicable to day-to-day operations, the project's organisers held several feedback events. This includes the so-called User Platform which has already met twice in Berlin. Participants included PTAs and TOCs from Germany, Denmark, Italy, Rumania, Hungary, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland. In June 2011 the final conference took place in Berlin.
In 2010, draft Guidelines were tested in four European regions: Copenhagen/ Øresund (Denmark), Berlin/Brandenburg (Germany) Timisoara (Rumania) and in Lombardy (Italy). The PTAs in these regions were all partners in the project - the Danish transport ministry Trafikstyrelsen, Berlin's senate administration for urban development, the region Timisoara for the Rumanian railways CFR, and the province of Brescia and the transport agency of the region of Lombardy. The experience gained from these test phases are a part of the final version of the Guidelines and ensure that they are applicable to day-to-day operations.
The Pro-Rail Alliance is taking a proactive, environmental approach
Rail's energy efficiency, and its impact on the climate, is one of the central arguments for the political support enjoyed by rail passenger transport. For the Pro-Rail Alliance (Allianz pro Schiene), improving the efficiency of regional passenger transport is therefore an important strategic goal. After all, even though rail is the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, there is still significant potential for saving energy and lowering emissions.
As an organisation that supports the railways, the Pro-Rail Alliance is pursuing a politically proactive approach focussing on the environment. The railways must not rest on the competitive climate advantage that they possess over other modes of transport if they want to remain at the vanguard of environmental protection.
The Pro-Rail Alliance is hoping that the succesfully completed ECORailS project will result in the further development and the Europe-wide standardisation of the environmental criteria used for awarding contracts in regional passenger transport. That could provide the impetus for increased innovation on energy efficiency in the rail sector, strengthening the railways right across Europe.
More on the EU project ECORailS
Contact
Matthias Pippert
Project Manager Environmental Effects of Railways
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