Circular Economy in Rail Track: Estimating the Environental Burdens of the Use of Recycled Material and EoL Processing Through Life Cycle Assessment

The paper focuses on the application of the principles of the circular economy (CE) to the rail track systems by considering two main aspects: the use of recycled materials for the construction and maintenance and the environmental items associated with the End-of-Life (EoL). CE is an alternative approach to the linear model, promoting reduced raw material consumption and encouraging waste reuse through recycling or the development of new products. However, the waste materials require some pre-treatments before their use for which it is necessary to estimate the environmental consequences to properly estimate the benefits of the application. On the other hand, the EoL of the tracks requires careful considerations on the destination of the decommissioned components. This is an aspect often not fully considered in previous studies. This research focuses on the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to the two critical phases of the rail track life cycle: material production and EoL. In the stage of material production, the study looks at a comparison of sourcing and processing of the recycled material into the track construction. For EoL phase, the environmental implication brought by reusing/recycling materials from old tracks versus land filling or incineration have been considered . The results show that, in construction, material recycling and re-use can significantly reduce the environmental burdens related to natural resource depletion, human health and ecosystem protection. The findings are strongly dependent on the quality and efficiency of the recycling processes and on the logistical challenges of reprocessing materials.