Life Cycle Assessment of railway infrastructure: definition of the methodology, elaboration of environmental data and development of life cycle inventory datasets

Sustainability is now a key concept in the infrastructure sector, and an increasing number of projects are being developed with this view. For this reason, sustainability in the construction must be pursued by analyzing the multiple impacts on economic, social and environmental levels during all processes of the life cycle of the infrastructure. It is necessary, therefore, that the decision-making process at the basis of the project design is informed by data on impacts determined by the choices that are made. This thesis work promotes the use of life cycle assessment data in the design phase of railways infrastructures, being part of the BIM for Rail-LCA project with the aim of defining a methodological framework for the assessment of the environmental footprint of railway infrastructures and developing specific inventories and datasets. The methodological framework identified is compliance with the ISO 14040-44 and to the EN 15804. Furthermore, the PCR Railways 2013, the PEF methodology and the PEFCR Guidance are identified as additional references to further specify some methodological aspects. The development of the inventories was carried out in accordance with the defined framework. For the development of the datasets, the ILCD format is used, considering the ILCD Entry level requirements as a reference for data quality. The development of the inventories and datasets was made possible by means of a data collection carried out with an analysis of the scientific literature and with a series of meetings held with the designers of the Italferr company. Using this information and data, it was possible to develop 8 different inventories and related LCIA, and 3 specific datasets for the trench, embankment and track structures. The data collection activities allowed a good level of information to be revealed and, also, several gaps were identified, which deserve further activities in terms of data and information collection and development.