LCC-Based Appraisal of Ballasted and Slab Tracks: Limits and Potential

Praticò, Filippo Giammaria; Giunta, Marinella

doi:10.7250/bjrbe.2018-13.429

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…(1) The first one is directed towards the integration of LCC and environmental quantitative analysis, using LCC and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) [8] joint application, as explored by a vast and quite recent literature [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In the studies, the quantitative dimension prevails, given that the environmental impacts expressed in terms for example of embodied energy and embodied carbon can be internalized into the LCC model in monetary terms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

Fregonara

Ferrando

2023

Sustainability

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The debate about project economic sustainability evaluation from a life cycle perspective focused on the conventional Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Despite the potentialities of the approach for evaluating design options at different scales (building/system/component/material), some limits emerge due to the neoclassical nature of the economic principles on which it is founded. The most important aspect of this debate is the necessity to clarify how to deal with environmental costs in the calculation, particularly in the case of public/PPP interventions. Two research topics emerge for strengthening the capability of LCC to deal with environmental components: (1) the LCC and environmental quantitative analysis (using Life Cycle Assessment) joint application; (2) the integration of the environmental dimension into the microeconomic approach, using appropriate discount rates. As known, these last are particularly relevant for public projects, in which the time value of money issue becomes crucial in presence of long lifespan analyses and economic objectives. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore alternative discounting modalities, for identifying the preferable one, towards an “environmental LCC model”. The research domain is therefore on the limits of LCC in dealing with environmental cost components, at the time being poorly studied by the scientific literature: this point represents the missing link which form the basis for the research problem to be addressed. The research design is focused on the investigation of environmental hurdle rate technique and the escalation rate approach, as alternatives to the standard “time preference” (financial) one. The LCC and the global cost are selected as the main tool for the analysis, which is founded on an empirical research methodology. The results, obtained by simulations on a case study (two alternative technological components), confirm the relevance of the discount rate effect on the Global Cost calculation by modelling some of the potential impacts of building components on the environment, e.g., the expectations of technological development over time. By the environmental hurdle rate, the results can even change the final preferability ranking obtained using financial rates. The value of the work consists of growing the debate on the topic and supporting environmentally responsible investment decisions in the building construction sector (new-build/retrofit of existing assets).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

Fregonara

Ferrando

2023

Sustainability

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“…When the data for the cost function is determined, it is important to take the discount rate into account, e.g. using the NPV [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative requirements and evaluation methods for slab track design

Aggestam,

Ekberg,

Nielsen

2023

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F:

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With increasing train speeds and reduced time windows for maintenance work, the interest in the application of slab track technology to increase the capacity of high-speed railways has grown. Slab track may still be considered a relatively young technology, but with several different designs available on the market. Current research on slab tracks commonly focuses on improved methods. In contrast, the formulation of requirements, and evaluation towards these, are seldom investigated. In this paper, state-of-the-art simulation models are employed to illustrate and address the needs for innovative requirements in terms of structural integrity and robustness, life cycle cost (LCC) and environmental footprint of new and existing slab track designs. Based on demonstration examples, it is argued that current standards may lead to overly conservative designs inducing higher LCC and environmental footprint than necessary. Extensions of the standards in terms of LCC and environmental footprint are suggested. The conflict of interest between structural integrity and robustness, LCC and environmental footprint is discussed, and suggestions for how to optimise slab track structures are proposed.

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“…It is noted that models to address secondary cost elements, esp. externality cost related to carbon emission, have been available (Pratico and Giunta, 2018). The amount of carbon emission over the life-cycle of a railway track has been studied by Milford and Allwood (2010).…”

Section: Lcc Model Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By ranking costs on either a componentor activity-basis problematic components in a system or weak spots in a maintenance regime can be identified, which may in turn facilitate design optimization and resource utilization maximization. In the railway sector, LCC has been used to optimize maintenance strategies (Meier-Hirmer et al, 2009, Caetano and, compare track forms (Pratico and Giunta, 2018) and evaluate track performance (Rama and Andrews, 2016). Breakdown of LCC to a level where cost for each element is accessible and then aggregated is the usual approach to calculate LCC (ISO 15686-5, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A simulation-based LCC model for railway track

Li¹,

Dwight²

2021

Proc. Of the 11th IMA International Conference on Modelling in Industrial Maintenance and Reliability

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Because of the complexities of the railway track system compositions and their degradation mechanisms, the existing models built for relevant LCC estimation are either too simplified or focused on a part of the system. In this paper, a simulationbased model is proposed which is to incorporate all of the major track components such as rail, ballast and sleepers. A cost breakdown methodology is adopted to estimate the cost on a component-by-component and activity-by-activity basis. The interactions of track components and between maintenance and track components can be considered during the simulation process. Some activities whose implementation is purely experience-based can be loosely added as extra cost elements by disregarding its connection with other activities. Though attempting to embrace all, the simulationbased model is still considered easier to implement and potentially faster to run compared to the more complex and probably more powerful models including the Petri-Net models: the tools for its development are readily available. Apart from that, only knowledge on Monte Carlo simulation is required. In addition to providing a tool for the planning of maintenance actions, the model may also be used to evaluate different track form options. By replacing the simulation-based models with parametric models or limiting the focus to one or several track components, the model can be simplified conveniently.

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LCC-Based Appraisal of Ballasted and Slab Tracks: Limits and Potential

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

The Discount Rate in the Evaluation of Project Economic-Environmental Sustainability

Innovative requirements and evaluation methods for slab track design

A simulation-based LCC model for railway track

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