Apr 17 2025

Quantifying and Improving the Energy Consumption of Railroad Track Maintenance and Material Transportation

UTC Seminar Series Spring 2025

April 17, 2025

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Energy Consumption on rail

Location

Virtual Event

Cost

No cost

Calendar

Download iCal File

A new framework and proof-of-concept tool is under development for life cycle assessment (LCA) of railway track construction and maintenance, to more completely quantify the energy efficiency benefits of railway transportation.

The final UTC Seminar Series presentation of the Spring 2025 semester introduces the LCA framework and the tool, and uses case studies to demonstrate the share of energy consumption and emissions associated with track material manufacture, transport and installation.

To reduce the energy intensity of track material transportation, railroads may consider implementing Battery Electric Locomotives, but the energy savings economics of this technology are highly sensitive to route topography, battery capacity and charging strategy.

 

 

Contact

Edward Bury
ebury@uic.edu

Date posted

Apr 8, 2025

Date updated

Apr 8, 2025

Speakers

C. Tyler Dick. PhD, PE | Assistant Professor | University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering

Railway mainline, yard and terminal capacity, design and interaction; railroad network operations and performance resiliency; operations potential of advanced railway traffic control systems with virtual and moving blocks; railway energy efficiency and alternative energy locomotives; technology-assisted train operations and self-propelled autonomous railcars; predictive analytics for operations and maintenance planning; safety of rail operations and hazardous materials transportation..

Pasi Lautala, PhD, PE | Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering and Director, Rail Transportation Program | Michigan Tech Transportation Institute

Dr. Lautala was appointed in August, 2012 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017 and to Professor as well as Associate Dean for Research in 2023. He is also the founder and the Director of Rail Transportation Program (RTP) since the program was established in 2007 and is currently on his second stint of directing the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI). Pasi has his BS from Tampere University of Technology in Finland and his MSc and PhD degrees from Michigan Tech University. Dr. Lautala has been a leader or co-leader of more than ten million dollars in external research, covering a range of topics related to the rail and other transportation, from trespasser and grade crossing safety to multimodal transportation logistics, life cycle analysis, and railway capacity related topics. Under his leadership, Michigan Tech has also expanded the rail research portfolio to various departments across the campus. Dr. Lautala is also one the nationwide leaders in rejuvenation of rail transportation education in academia, including at Michigan Tech. Since 2013, Dr. Lautala has been appointed as a member of Michigan Commission for Supply Chain and Transportation Logistics Collaboration. He is currently the Rail Group Chair for the Transportation Research Board (TRB), part of National Academies of Sciences and actively involved in the AREMA Education and Training Committee. Since 2021, he has also provided transportation consulting services under Lautala Consulting, LLC. His previous experience includes work with Finnish Railways prior to his arrival in the US, as well as five years of railroad and highway-engineering consulting experience in Chicago before his return to Michigan Tech.

Registration Now Open

Name(Required)
Email(Required)