Is high-speed rail a sustainable mobility option? A life-cycle assessment of the Basque Y project in Spain

The Basque Y High Speed Rail connection between Madrid and the Basque Autonomous Community is, quite exceptionally, a mixed freight and passengers HSR line, that has been presented as a fundamental step towards a more sustainable mobility. In this paper, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to assess the environmental performance of the line throughout its lifetime, based on the latest data available, including both construction and maintenance burdens. Results show that this new corridor is not justified in terms of reducing emissions and energy consumption, mainly due to its low transport density. It also has a negligible impact on Spanish current low rail freight traffic. We conclude, therefore, that Spain needs to reconsider its AVE network expansion if aiming at increasing rail's modal share and meeting the emissions targets set by the EU. From a policy perspective, many information inconsistencies have been found regarding the demand projections of freight transport, which cast serious doubt about the decision-making process behind Trans-European transport projects.Andoni Kortazar and Gorka Bueno acknowledge the funding provided by the Department of Education of the Basque Government through grant IT 1567-22 Ekopol Research Group (UPV/EHU). David Hoyos acknowledges financial support of Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 through grant PID2020-113650RB-I00, the Basque Government through grant IT1508-22 (UPV/EHU Econometrics Research Group) and FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa” / Unión Europea “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR

Dataset for the life cycle assessment of the high speed rail network in Spain

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Spanish high speed rail (HSR) network in service in 2016 (2583 km) was conducted. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data related to the construction and maintenance phases of the infrastructure was collected using Google Earth tool, and complemented with data obtained from the LCA carried out by Tuchschmid et al. [1]. LCI data associated with the operation phase of the infrastructure was built on available fragmentary data on passenger movements for the year 2016 [2–4], processed with a python algorithm to estimate the transport service provided by the infrastructure. Environmental impacts for transport modes were obtained from Ecoinvent v3.7 database [5,6] and processed with openLCA software [7]. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results gathered in the dataset include Global Warming (GWP100a), Cumulative Energy Demand and total emissions for PM10, SO2, NOX and NMVOC. This dataset presents a detailed description of the Spanish HSR network, including the length of each item (bridges, tunnels, earthworks, railway tracks), and a robust estimation of passenger transport over the infrastructure for year 2016. The LCI data presented in this paper support the original research done on whether the construction of Spanish HSR network infrastructure is justified in terms of reducing environmental impacts and energy consumption [8], and may be used as a baseline for future studies on transport economics

Validation and comparison of instruments to identify frail patientes in primary care settings: Study protocol

International audienceBACKGROUND:In the last few years several indices and tools, aimed at identifying frail subjects in various care settings have been developed. However, to date none of them has been incorporated into usual practice in the primary care setting. The purposes of this study are: 1) to evaluate the predictive capacity of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), the Gérontopôle Frailty Screening Tool (GFST) and the KoS model together with two biomarker levels (SOX2 and p16INK4a) for adverse events related to frailty; 2) to determine differences in the use of healthcare services according to frailty.METHODS/DESIGN:Prospective multicentre cohort study with a 2-year follow-up. The study will be performed in primary care centres of Gipuzkoa and Costa del Sol, both located in Spain. Autonomous, non-institutionalized individuals aged 70 and over that agree to participate in this study will constitute the study population. A total of 900 individuals will be randomly selected from the healthcare administrative data bases of the participating health services. Data will be collected at baseline and at 1 and 2 years. The main independent variables assessed at baseline will be TFI outcomes, GFST and the KoS model, together with the expression of SOX2 and p16INK4a levels. During follow-up, loss of autonomy, the occurrence of death and consumption of healthcare resources will be assessed.DISCUSSION:The main focus of this work is the identification and evaluation of several instruments constructed under different rationales to identify frail subjects in primary care settings. The resulting outcomes have potential for direct application to the primary care practice. Early identification of the onset of functional impairment of elderly is an essential, still unresolved aspect in the prevention of dependence in the scope of primary care