A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 Final report rev. 1 Jernbaneverket March 2011 A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 2 JERNBANEVERKET Asplan Viak AS A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 3 PREFACE Asplan Viak As with partners MiSA, Verkehrswissenschaftliches Institut Stuttgart GmbH (VWI Stuttgart) and Brekke & Strand Akustikk AS have been engaged by The Norwegian Rail Administration to carry out the project ”Environmental analyses” as part of Phase 2 of the High Speed Rail Assessment in Norway. Asplan Viak AS has been lead partner with responsibility for the project management and coordination of different subjects, both within this specific assignment and with the other studies which are part of Phase 2. Asplan Viak has been responsible for developing an assessment methodology for the following subjects: • Subject 1 - Landscape analyses • Subject 2 - Environmental intervention effects • Subject 3 - Effects on noise Part of Subject 3 – effects on noise - has been carried out in collaboration with Brekke and Strand Akustikk AS, represented by Dr. ing Arild Brekke. VWI Stuttgart has been responsible for the other part of Subject 3 which concerns developing a methodology for assessing effects on energy consumption. VWI’s representative has been Dr.ing. Harry Dobeschinsky. MiSA, represented by PhD Håvard Bergsdal, has been responsible for developing a methodology for Subject 4 – Assessment of climate related environmental effects. Sandvika, Norway, 1th of March 2011 Siv. ing Randi Birgitte Svånå Project Manager JERNBANEVERKET Asplan Viak AS A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 4 JERNBANEVERKET Asplan Viak AS A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary ..............................................................................................................................13 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................21 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................21 1.2 Challenges .............................................................................................................21 1.3 Methodology ..........................................................................................................22 Subject 1 and 2: Landscape and intervention effects ...........................................................25 2 Method for assessing landscape and environmental intervention effects ...................25 2.1 Purpose and functionality of method ......................................................................25 2.2 General approach to method development .............................................................25 2.3 State of the art ........................................................................................................26 2.4 General description of method developed for this study .........................................31 3 Coverage of topics .....................................................................................................32 3.1 Landscape .............................................................................................................32 3.1.1 Landscape regions, description and categorisation of landscape ........................32 3.1.2 Mapped and classified landscape data ...............................................................33 3.1.3 Other datasets which are relevant as a basis for the analysis .............................34 3.2 Environmental intervention effects ..........................................................................35 3.2.1 Natural environment ...........................................................................................35 3.2.2 Water resources .................................................................................................35 3.3 Other topics ............................................................................................................36 4 Value classification of topic and area .........................................................................36 4.1 General approach ..................................................................................................36 4.2 Value ratings - landscape .......................................................................................37 4.2.1 Existing value ratings for landscape data ............................................................37 4.2.2 Derived value ratings for landscape data ............................................................37 4.3 Value classifications – environmental intervention ..................................................38 4.3.1 Existing value ratings for the natural environment theme ....................................38 4.3.2 Derived value classification for the natural environment theme ...........................39 JERNBANEVERKET Asplan Viak AS A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 6 4.3.3 Value classification for water resources ..............................................................39 5 Magnitude of effect and conflict potential ...................................................................40 5.1 General approach ..................................................................................................40 5.1.1 Magnitude of effect and conflict potential - landscape .........................................40 5.1.2 Magnitude of effect and conflict potential - natural environment ..........................41 5.1.3 Magnitude of effect and conflict potential - water resources ................................42 5.2 Overall measure of conflict potential .......................................................................42 5.2.1 Proposed approach to assessing conflict potential ..............................................42 5.2.2 Ranking of alternative concepts ..........................................................................43 6 Establishing data models ...........................................................................................44 6.1 Data capture ..........................................................................................................44 6.2 List of themes and coverage ..................................................................................46 6.2.1 Themes with national data coverage...................................................................46 6.2.2 Data coverage at county level .............................................................................47 6.2.3 Municipal coverage of relevant themes ...............................................................50 6.3 Models for analysis of impact .................................................................................51 Subject 3: Effects on energy and noise ...............................................................................55 7 Energy .......................................................................................................................55 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................55 7.2 Basic information for energy consumption calculations ..........................................55 7.2.1 Basic information on vehicle dynamics ...............................................................55 7.2.2 Calculation of energy consumption .....................................................................57 7.2.3 General assumptions ..........................................................................................58 7.2.4 Technical train data ............................................................................................60 7.2.5 Efficiency degree of the tractive system ..............................................................71 7.2.6 Infrastructure scenarios ......................................................................................72 7.3 Specific energy consumption of trains ....................................................................75 7.3.1 Passenger load factor effects..............................................................................75 7.3.2 Track gradient effects .........................................................................................76 JERNBANEVERKET Asplan Viak AS A Methodology for Environmental Assessment – Norwegian High Speed Railway Project Phase 2 7 7.3.3 Permitted track speed impact and train comparison ............................................77 7.3.4 Tunnel impact on specific energy consumption ...................................................78 7.3.5 Effects of intermediate stops ...............................................................................80 7.4 Infrastructure design effects ...................................................................................84 7.4.1 “Steep and straight” vs. “flat with a detour”..........................................................84 7.4.2 Running into inclines at Vmax ...............................................................................86 7.4.3 Continuous vs. intermittent inclines .....................................................................87 7.5 Effects of traffic operations on