CLIC Curated Life cycle Inventory Collection

Rail freight

transport, freight train, electric

Reference product transport, freight train ZA

Published Version 1.0.0 Latest published

Stable dataset identity transport-freight-train-electric-4

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Unit
ton kilometer
Reuse license
CC BY 4.0
Published
2026-07-15
Version
1.0.0
Technology maturity
See quality profile

Published inventory

Overview

Scope, source, release context, and stable identifying information.

Description

This dataset provides 1 ton-kilometer of freight rail transport in ZA using a electric locomotive configuration. Within this workbook, the transport rows are structured as comparative decarbonization scenarios across diesel-electric, catenary-electric, and hydrogen fuel-cell traction for regional rail freight. This activity should therefore be read as a scenario-specific transport service inventory rather than as a generic average freight-rail market dataset.

Source

Scientific journal publication

Primary source: Wolff, S., Seidenfus, M., Gordon, K., Alvarez, S., Kalt, S., & Lienkamp, M. (2020). Scalable Life-Cycle Inventory for Heavy-Duty Vehicle Production. Sustainability, 12, 5396. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135396. The workbook also documents activity-specific assumptions from ABB BORDLINE product information, Vossloh UKlight locomotive data, Frischknecht et al. (1996), and Statista; consult the original workbook notes for details.

Dataset details Expand Collapse

Dataset details

Classification
Rail freight (transport/rail/freight)
Background database
ecoinvent / 3.9
Background system model
cut-off
Biosphere database
ecoinvent / 3.9
Bookmarks
0
Raw file downloads
0
Generated export downloads
0

These are the source profiles for this version. Foreground modelling assumptions and allocation belong in the dataset description.

Classification path: Transport > Rail transport > Rail freight

Keywords

  • rail transport
  • rail freight

External references

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Technology profile

Technology characterization

Scale, utilization, production, and lifetime data. Missing values remain visible to guide future metadata improvements.

Commercial maturity stage
Mature commercial
Design capacity
Not provided
Design capacity unit
Not provided
Capacity factor
Not provided
Annual production volume
Not provided
Annual production volume unit
Not provided
Annual production volume year
Not provided
Plant lifetime
Not provided

Inventory workspace

Inventory & impacts

Inspect every exchange and its contribution to the selected EF v3.1 indicator.

Precalculated screening profile

Environmental impacts

Results per ton kilometer, using UVEK 2025 and the ecoinvent 3.10 biosphere. Exchange rows are shaded from green to red by relative contribution to the selected indicator.

Climate change 0.0407415 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer
Screening result

This screening result uses Brightpath mappings from the source background to UVEK 2025; mapped suppliers are not claims of scientific equivalence.

Show all 16 indicator totals
Acidification 7.4513e-05 mol H+-Eq / ton kilometer
Climate change 0.0407415 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer
Freshwater ecotoxicity 0.101528 CTUe / ton kilometer
Freshwater eutrophication 2.2179e-05 kg P-Eq / ton kilometer
Marine eutrophication 2.3532e-05 kg N-Eq / ton kilometer
Terrestrial eutrophication 0.000235202 mol N-Eq / ton kilometer
Human toxicity, cancer 2.3896e-11 CTUh / ton kilometer
Human toxicity, non-cancer 2.3376e-10 CTUh / ton kilometer
Ionising radiation 0.00441926 kBq U235-Eq / ton kilometer
Land use 0.0764352 dimensionless / ton kilometer
Ozone depletion 2.2591e-10 kg CFC-11-Eq / ton kilometer
Particulate matter 1.4851e-09 disease incidence / ton kilometer
Photochemical ozone formation 6.5792e-05 kg NMVOC-Eq / ton kilometer
Resource use, fossils 0.416405 MJ, net calorific value / ton kilometer
Resource use, minerals and metals 1.6799e-07 kg Sb-Eq / ton kilometer
Water use 0.242685 m3 world Eq deprived / ton kilometer
Calculation details

Profile uvek-2025-ef-v3-1-4e70d56a85b1 · artifact 4e70d56a85b1 · calculated 2026-09-30 14:09 UTC. These screening results do not replace a reviewed comparative LCA.

Dataset contents

Reference flows, emissions, technosphere inputs, and natural resources in this published snapshot.

Outputs

Reference flow

1 row

Reference production exchanges extracted from the uploaded inventory.

Exchange Reference / categories Amount Unit Metadata Climate change contribution
transport, freight train, electric
ZA
transport, freight train
1
ton kilometer - Reference flow

Emissions

24 rows

Elementary flows emitted from the dataset to the environment.

Exchange Reference / categories Amount Unit Metadata Climate change contribution
Ammonia
air
3.42e-09
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
2.0E-05 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Benzene
air
1.71e-08
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.0E-04 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Cadmium II
air
1.71e-12
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.0E-08 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Carbon dioxide, fossil
air
5.38e-04
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
3.146 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0.000538438 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 1.3% of total
EF biosphere factor
Carbon monoxide, fossil
air
2.70e-06
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.58E-02 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Chromium III
air
8.56e-12
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
5.0E-08 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Copper ion
air
2.91e-10
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.7E-06 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Dinitrogen monoxide
air
1.71e-08
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.0E-04 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
4.6724e-06 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Iron ion
soil
1.24e-05
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.24E-05 kg/tkm, emission of particulates due to abrasion from rail tracks, wheels,and brakes Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Lead II
air
1.88e-14
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.1E-10 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Mercury II
air
3.42e-15
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
2.0E-11 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Methane, fossil
air
2.22e-08
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.3E-04 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
6.6304e-07 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
NMVOC, non-methane volatile organic compounds
air
8.99e-07
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
5.25E-03 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Nickel II
air
1.20e-11
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
7.0E-08 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Nitrogen oxides
air
9.41e-06
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
5.5E-02 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Particulate Matter, < 2.5 um
air
2.11e-07
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.28E-03 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Particulate Matter, > 10 um
air
1.77e-05
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
4.59E-05 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007), plus 1.77E-05 kg/tkm, emission of particulates due to abrasion from rail tracks, wheels,and brakes Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Particulate Matter, > 2.5 um and < 10um
air
1.63e-05
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.07E-04 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007), plus 1.63E-05 kg/tkm, emission of particulates due to abrasion from rail tracks, wheels,and brakes Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Selenium IV
air
1.71e-12
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.0E-08 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Sulfur dioxide
air
1.03e-07
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
6.0E-04 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Sulfur hexafluoride
air
3.14e-09
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
3.14E-09 kg/tkm, emission of particulates due to abrasion from rail tracks, wheels,and brakes Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
7.9128e-05 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.2% of total
EF biosphere factor
Toluene
air
6.85e-09
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
4.0E-05 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Xylene
air
6.85e-09
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
4.0E-05 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor
Zinc II
air
1.71e-10
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
1.0E-06 kg/kg fuel for diesel locomotives, according to Spielmann et al. (2007) Spielmann, M., Bauer, C., Dones, R., Institut, P. S., & Tuchschmid, M. (2007). Transport Services. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, ecoinvent report No. 14.
0 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.0% of total
EF biosphere factor

Inputs

Technosphere inputs

8 rows

Linked foreground or background product inputs used by this dataset.

Exchange Reference / categories Amount Unit Metadata Climate change contribution
market for diesel
ZA
diesel
1.71e-04
kilogram
Metadata (1)
Comment
The energy consumption for shunting processes is added. The shunting process is assumed to be done by diesel shunting locomotives exclusivley. The specific diesel consumption for the shunting is taken from the regional ecoinvent datasets "transport, freight train, electric".
0.00015582 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.4% of total
BAFU:2025
market for electricity, high voltage
ZA
electricity, high voltage
0.02
kilowatt hour
Metadata (1)
Comment
The primary energy consumption (used for the traction/transport of the freight train) is calculated using the final energy for the given region and type of train (electric, diesel, or hydrogen) in EJ/yr, divided by the energy service variable for the given region and type of train in bn tkm/yr, for the year 2020, taken from the REMIND model for the SSP2-Base scenario. Similar to the ecoinvent process the electricity consumed is split 50/50 between high and medium voltage as precise data was not available.
0.0169344 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 41.6% of total
BAFU:2025
market for electricity, medium voltage
ZA
electricity, medium voltage
0.02
kilowatt hour
Metadata (1)
Comment
The primary energy consumption (used for the traction/transport of the freight train) is calculated using the final energy for the given region and type of train (electric, diesel, or hydrogen) in EJ/yr, divided by the energy service variable for the given region and type of train in bn tkm/yr, for the year 2020, taken from the REMIND model for the SSP2-Base scenario. Similar to the ecoinvent process the electricity consumed is split 50/50 between high and medium voltage as precise data was not available.
0.0172486 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 42.3% of total
BAFU:2025
production of locomotive, electric catenary
GLO
locomotive, electric catenary
1.23e-09
unit
Metadata (1)
Comment
taken from ecoinvent inventory "transport, freight train, electricity - ZA"
0.00075417 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 1.9% of total
CLIC v1.0.0
market for maintenance, locomotive
GLO
maintenance, locomotive
1.23e-09
unit
Metadata (1)
Comment
taken from ecoinvent inventory "transport, freight train, electricity - ZA"
0.000123583 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 0.3% of total
BAFU:2025
market for goods wagon
GLO
goods wagon
8.42e-09
unit
Metadata (1)
Comment
taken from ecoinvent inventory "transport, freight train, electricity - ZA"
0.000488431 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 1.2% of total
BAFU:2025
market for maintenance, goods wagon
GLO
maintenance, goods wagon
8.42e-09
unit
Metadata (1)
Comment
taken from ecoinvent inventory "transport, freight train, electricity - ZA"
0.000475796 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 1.2% of total
BAFU:2025
market for railway track
GLO
railway track
9.68e-05
meter-year
Metadata (1)
Comment
taken from ecoinvent inventory "transport, freight train, electricity - ZA"
0.00393788 kg CO2-Eq / ton kilometer 9.7% of total
BAFU:2025

Parameters

Read-only definitions preserved with this inventory version. Values are supplied by the source; CLIC does not evaluate formulas or recalculate exchange amounts and impact scores from them.

No parameter definitions were supplied with this inventory snapshot.

Evidence and scrutiny

Quality & review

Assess representativeness and read the public record of the scientific review.

Quality and maturity details Expand Collapse

Quality and maturity

TRL scale Higher is more mature. 9: routine commercial deployment 8: commercial, but still niche or scaling 7: first-commercial or advanced demonstration 6: engineering-scale demonstration 5: pilot or large prototype 4: bench or lab validated 3: research-stage concept Technology readiness level
1 to 5 scale Lower is better. 1: strong market- or operating-data basis 2: commercially plausible, but still somewhat specific 3: partly representative, with modelling or adaptation bias 4: pilot, proxy-based, scaled-up, or prospective 5: weak representation of the real technology state Technological representativeness
1 to 5 scale Lower is better. 1: geography matches the claimed scope well 2: regionally credible, but broader or less exact 3: generic regional or global proxy 4: weak proxy or clear geographic mismatch 5: geography is effectively unsupported Geographical representativeness
1 to 5 scale Lower is better. 1: current for that technology class 2: slightly dated, but still good 3: dated enough to need caution 4: stale, pilot-era, or prospective relative to current practice 5: clearly not representative of the current state Temporal representativeness

Missing exchange uncertainty generation: Not requested

Representativeness scores use a 1–5 scale when provided. Lower scores indicate a closer fit to the modeled technology, geography, or time period.

Public review record Curator-led bulk import. Public evidence is shown without participant accounts, assignments, recommendations, or private editor notes. Show review Hide review

Publication route

Curator-led bulk import

This inventory was restored from a public CLIC archive. Its original publication route is Curator-led bulk import; private review and workflow records were not transferred.

Source inventory archive

No public review transcript is available for this version.

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Version history

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Version Published Link
Version 1.0.0 2026-07-15 Current view
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