Economic evaluation of urban track systems: integration of LCC and socio-economic assessment

Abstract

Urban Track is an EU funded research project(2006-2010) aiming at the development and construction of modular track systems for tram, metro and light rail with a low life cycle cost and a high performance. Moreover, the systems have to be safe, and should produce a minimum of noise and vibrations. In total, 28 different partners have worked on the development, implementation and assessment of the innovative rail technologies. Considering that urban railway operation is characterized by the need for large initial investments and large annual budgets for maintenance/renewal activity, the systematic and controlled development of LCC strategies on a European level can be seen as a crucial issue for the economic sustainability of the urban railway business. Therefore, an important part of the project was the economic assessment of the innovative systems in terms of life cycle costs (LCC) and socioeconomic costs. LCC is typically carried out to evaluate the profitability of investments with inclusion of the whole life cycle. Generally spoken, a higher product quality will lead to a higher initial price but should, on the longer term, lead to lower maintenance and refurbishment costs. However, carrying out LCC calculations is often not standardized within a country and certainly not within Europe. The LCC-method developed within Urban Track has resulted in a controlled methodology to assess the life cycle costs and benefits of innovative technological solutions and facilitate joint development between network operators/infrastructure managers and the supply industry. The methodology allows building up railway networks in a tree structure, to define qualifications and hourly rates, to define periodic and time-related cost elements, to calculate results and to genrate reports. The methodology can be seen as a step forwards towards a European standard in the domain of LCC calculations.