Rail freight traffic inside cities : reducing noise and pollution

Transcription

1 Rail freight traffic inside cities : reducing noise and pollution Bertrand MINARY SNCF Direction de la Recherche et de la Technologie Unité de Recherche "Automatismes et Systèmes de Contrôle" 45 rue de Londres F PARIS CEDEX 08 FRANCE tél. : fax : bertrand.minary@sncf.fr Nowadays, due to the social and economic context, cities are increasing. With more and more inhabitants, they require efficient transport system, as for passenger or goods traffic. Freight transport in urban areas is now perceived in many European countries as a poorly understood research topic and a field where action is required. It accounts for a substantial, and often underestimated, share of all freight transport. Providers of logistical services find an expanding market in the field of urban distribution. Freight traffic also represents a high proportion of total urban road traffic, with significant consequences in terms of road occupancy, parking, location and development of activities, town planning, congestion, the environment, etc 1. The urban logistic context in France Many surveys in Europe have been performed in recent years about the goods transport flows inside cities Study of the goods transport flows in urban area In France, especially in the Paris and its suburban area, goods transport flows are increasing: 310 millions of tons each year, for more than 50,000 tons per day in the heart. Only a quarter is transit traffic, the rest is for local consummation or production i. By the way, distribution platforms are situated outside of the urban areas, more and more far from the heart, due to the lack of available lands and land purchasing costs Study of the pollution due to goods transport A study ii made in 1995 has proven that in France 80 to 95 % of the transport operations inside cities are made by road means. Although road transport vehicles represent a low share of the whole road traffic, including the personal cars, lorries are responsible of a higher share of the pollution caused by city road traffic. In the global transport activity, lorries are responsible of an important share of the pollution: CO2 (26 % of the total), NOx (38 %), SO2 (43 %) and particles (59 %) Study of the noise due to goods transport The relative part of the noise in urban area due to the lorries is quite important, because it increases the noise levels from +1 to +4 db(a), compared to a similar traffic with light vehicles ii Consequences All these events cause some identified problems:

2 the distribution inside cities is less and less efficient, whereas it is the key for a good economic activity, road infrastructures are more and more saturated, noise problems, pollution problems, the living environment is debased, exasperation of the inhabitants Politic actions The consequence is that, in France, both at national or local level, state authorities have decided to plan actions, mainly in the three following items: cities must take into account the goods transport flows in their urban moving programme (PDU, Plan de Déplacement Urbain), that has to be signed for every city of more than 100,000 inhabitants, hardening of the urban delivery regulations by road, proposal of pilot experimentation supported by the French Ministry of Transport, such as using new power sources (gas, battery), transporting by alternative means of transport, installing distribution platforms inside of the cities, etc. 2. Urban logistics concept by the SNCF The aim is to develop innovative multimodal logistics chain, which could serve the heart of dense urban areas. They would link urban and peri-urban logistics platforms at the national and European level, and would offer a whole panel of additional logistics services (warehousing, picking, etc). They would provide a better service in urban areas and increase the quality of living in towns by looking for a global economic efficiency Logistics chain Meansof transport Railway link CITY A Pick-up / deliveryby raill Pick-up / deliveryby road Platforms Railway platform CITY B Urban platform Schematic rail road logistics chain between 2 cities

3 The system developed by the SNCF consists in: A pick-up system by rail or road, A main railway route between platforms, Some logistics and multimodal platforms, with additional services for main customers, A delivery service by road inside the cities, Some adapted transport vehicles and handling means. By using the existing but low used tracks or lands, a full door to door logistic chain can be created, with urban logistics plat-forms for transhipment, and ecological and technically advanced rail and road transport means. With this new service, railway companies could become major actors of the new urban logistic market. By the way, more freight traffic inside and between cities will be possible by using rail transport and promoting its own advantages Potential markets This concept interests a lot of potential customers, present in the heart of the dense cities: drink distribution, supermarkets and stores, mass marketing, textile industry (hauliers and distributors), parcel service, mail-order selling, A study made in accordance with potential customers concludes that a rail-road logistics organisation would reduce the transport costs of the client of about 10% to 18,3% (for parcel service). 3. Current SNCF projects on urban logistics The SNCF is involved in urban logistics projects in an innovative way both at French and European scale. Technical projects in this frame must define the way to integrate the components of the logistics chain to the urban constraints, and the way to link them: rail vehicles (locomotives, wagons, freight tram - train), road vehicles (lorries, transhipment vehicles), silent tracks, logistics platforms and handling systems. An official presentation of the SNCF urban logistics concept is currently under preparation. It includes a presentation of a silent running freight train specially developed for this project, and a presentation of ecological components of the logistic chain (electric lorries, ecological transhipment vehicles and platforms) Current projects Some projects for testing part of the concept are currently followed at a local level:

4 City of Toulouse: definition and test of the road distribution of the SERNAM parcel service goods by a new electric medium volume lorry (experimentation in 2002), City of Strasbourg: study for using the combined transport terminal to deliver in the city, City of Lille: study for delivering by rail road means inside the city, before to start a urban logistics train between Paris and Lille Silent freight train First of all, a standard freight train pulled by a shunter was measured in February 2000 in a clear field in order to establish a noise reference base (LA eq,tp ). The results are the following: Whole train db (A) Shunter Y 8000 db (A) Wagons db (A) 40 km/h (coasting) km/h (coasting) km/h (hauling) On this basis, the aim was to reduce the noise of the whole train to the maximum, by respecting the pollution norms. The SNCF has developed a silent freight train based on existing but upgraded shunter and wagons, and with a totally new silent track installed in an urban environment. Work performed for building the silent freight prototype train

5 Test site in Paris The current prototype is constituted by: one acoustically optimized diesel shunter with a new motor able to fill the EURO 2 norms, four acoustically optimized wagons, a new track equipped with noise absorbers. Freight prototype train

6 This prototype has been tested and acoustically evaluated in 2000 on this new track installed in Paris. The results showed a diminution of 7 to 8 dba for the whole train, compared to the reference freight train. In order to evaluate the influence of the silent axles on wagons, another test has been made in April 2001 on the same test site of Paris. The first results show a diminution of 9 dba for the whole train. Test in Paris in April 2001 A final test is planned in September in clear field in order to establish a comparison, and measure the final gain Non polluting road vehicles Distributing closest to the customers inside cities requires some sensible and efficient solutions for road vehicles. A current project group including technical experts from the industry, local authorities, road operators, the SNCF and environment protection agencies is currently working on the definition of a medium capacity road vehicle, powered by batteries. This vehicle will be experimented in Toulouse Platforms To make possible exchanges between rail and road inside cities, a study of a logistics platform is currently made by the SNCF. It aims to design new urban logistics plat-forms with an ecological point of view Freight Tram Train A new study will begin inside the SNCF in order to define a train able to run both on tramway and conventional railway infrastructure. This vehicle could be used for delivering in the heart

7 of cities without any intermediate operations on the freight itself. This study will define the rolling stock specifications and the operating modes for such service Alternative motorization for locomotives and shunters To insert more easily the railway vehicles in the environment, the SNCF explores the possibility to use alternative motorization modes for diesel locomotives and shunters, such as gas, battery or fuel cell. Both citizens and local state authorities wait for solutions. Now perceived as a topic where actions are required, freight transport in urban areas becomes a strategic and promising topic for logistics operators. The SNCF, by providing the own advantages of rail transport included in a multimodal, and almost ecological, transport chain, intends to become a recognized logistical services provider, especially in urban areas. In the frame of the SNCF "Logistique Urbaine" (Urban Logistics) project, studies are performed to built an efficient and economically affordable transport chain, particularly on its components (plat-forms, road vehicles, rail vehicles, etc). Some technical solutions are particularly investigated in projects, before to be tested. This is the reason why a medium volume electric lorry will be tested to deliver inside Toulouse the parcel service transported by the SERNAM trains. In parallel, other tests will be performed in Strasbourg for delivering in the city from a combined transport terminal, or between Paris and Lille with an urban logistics service by train. New rail vehicles adapted to urban constraints are also under definition. Some projects for renewing the shunting and line locomotives engines that could fulfil the polluting requirements have begun. Another project is defining the functional requirements of a freight train service, able to run on both on conventional and tramway infrastructure. Finally, the rail noise problem is in urban areas is also investigated on its own. A prototype of a silent freight running train has been built in 2000, and upgraded until today, so that a reduction of 10 db(a) could be reached. All these combination will allow to the SNCF to become a logistical provider able to deliver with efficiency the heart of cities, by respecting the environment, and to propose an alternative to the cities that are facing the problems caused by current freight urban transport situation. i Etude sur les transport en zone urbaine, Laboratoire d'economie des Transports de Lyon, 1995 ii Bilans environnementaux TMV Ile-de-France et Bordeaux ADEME/EDF, 1997 COST 321 Urban Goods transport: final report of the action