Urban rail and the sustainability challenge

<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> The application of sustainability to urban rail projects is a major challenge for the rail industry, according to senior sustainability consultant at Manidis Roberts Jane Scanlon. </span> <p><strong>The&nbspfollowing article is based on discussions with over 25 key industry players representing organisations including infrastructure delivery agencies, sustainability advisors and principal contractors.</strong></p><p>By Jane Scanlon<strong>*</strong></p><p>The majority of interviewees believed that the urban rail sector could do more in the area of sustainability and that a key barrier to achieving urban rail project sustainability outcomes was a lack of definition of what sustainability actually means for an urban rail project. Despite this lack of definition, interviewees discussed a number of key attributes of a sustainable urban rail project – attributes which can be separated into the “macro-level” and the “project-level”.</p><p><strong>Sustainability at the “macro-level”: connecting to the urban form</strong></p><p>Macro-level sustainability relates to how an urban rail project interfaces with the physical layout and design or “urban form” of a city. The general consensus amongst interviewees of what a sustainable urban rail project is, are those projects that connect with and complement this urban form in order to create more “liveable communities”. Liveable communities are places with high social and environmental quality, where people have access to transport, health services, employment and recreation. The concept of a liveable community is closely linked to a sustainable community, which Kirsty Ruddock, senior solicitor at the NSW Environmental Defenders Office, believes urban rail projects have the potential to help transition communities toward.</p><p>According to Stephen Bargwanna, AECOM technical director sustainability&nbspand climate change, connecting rail projects to the urban form requires that projects be viewed as “rail and property” that are part of a land development process. “Mixed-use development around railway stations for maximum patronage – for example, universities, hospitals, schools, high density employment [and] activity centres – should be a focal point,” Bargwanna said.</p><p>Connections such as cycle paths, pedestrian access, cycling facilities and other initiatives that link a rail project with other transport modes are extremely important to sustainable urban rail projects, Rick Walters, Worley Parsons manager sustainability and climate change and Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) board director, said.</p><p>Transit oriented development (TOD) can help achieve sustainable urban rail projects at the macro-level. TOD involves the creation of compact, walkable communities centred around high quality rail systems. TOD is designed to encourage public transport, linking various transit options, and incorporates mixed-use residential and commercial development.</p><p>Achieving sustainability at the macro-level is dependent on a governance framework that can coordinate the development of urban rail projects with broader city planning objectives and other land development processes, for example, targeting business growth centres around existing or planned railway stations.</p><p>A sustainable urban rail project at the macro-level is therefore one that connects to the urban form – going hand-in-hand with land development processes that happen around railway stations to maximise social and economic benefits.</p><p><strong>Sustainability at the project-level: “life-cycle thinking”</strong></p><p>So, if it is assumed that sustainability and urban rail is about how a rail project fits in with the urban form, how can project delivery processes such as design, procurement and construction maximise the sustainability benefit of an urban rail project and what might this sustainability benefit look like?<br />Sustainability at the project-level and more specifically, in design processes, needs to encourage “life-cycle thinking”.</p><p>Life-cycle thinking is about building resilience to future changes across the life of an asset. Future changes may include rising energy prices, more severe and frequent weather events as a result of climate change and changes to demographics. A way to achieve resilience is to build in flexibility during project delivery processes, and more specifically in design.</p><p>“If a project provides opportunity for adaptation so that another rail line can be put in to allow for future growth… to me that is a more sustainable project or outcome,” Walters said. Senior engineer at AECOM, Nicole Hansen, had similar sentiments. “It is good engineering practice to try and put some flexibility into design, for example with stations, designing them so that they can be retro-fitted quite easily,” Hansen said.</p><p>By building in flexibility and adaptability at the project-level, future changes can present opportunity – for example, in facilitating increased patronage – as opposed to risk – for example, damage to infrastructure, where climate change projections such as increased bush-fires and flooding have not been accounted for during design. In terms of inputs into the system, life-cycle thinking relates to considering supply chain impacts and the social and environmental responsibility of suppliers when selecting materials for construction and operation. Sustainability and inputs into the system also relate to resource efficiency which Andy Harland, a project manager at Leighton Contractors National Rail Operations, believes is key to sustainability.<br />“We need to be smarter in design and construction and use resources, both human and physical, more effectively to deliver value for money for our clients,” Harland said.</p><p>A number of interviewees connected the idea of life-cycle thinking to sustainability benchmarking. Sustainability benchmarking involves looking abroad and seeing what is possible in terms of sustainability, such as in energy efficient technology and design, and bringing it back to the local context. Interestingly, a number of interviewees suggested that what might be considered a sustainability initiative today might not be in say, 10 years time, as the theory and practice of sustainability continues to develop. Therefore, incorporating flexibility and adaptability into the project is important to ensure that sustainability initiatives don’t become redundant and opportunities for innovation are not restricted.</p><p><strong>To read Part Two of this story <a href="http://plone.informa.com.au/rex/archive/2010/april/april-07-2010/top-stories/urban-rail-and-the-sustainability-challenge-2013-part-two">click here</a><br /></strong></p><p>*A PhD candidate at the University of Western Sydney, Jane Scanlon is researching urban rail project governance and how sustainability thinking can be integrated into decision-making processes at the project-level.<br />Any comments, feedback or for more information on the research email: <a href="mailto:jscanlon@manidisroberts.com.au">jscanlon@manidisroberts.com.au</a></p><p>&nbsp</p>