Road-rail intermodal freight transport as a strategy for climate change mitigation

When attempting to reduce atmospheric emissions, a strategy commonly suggested by experts is the replacement of road transport with rail transport. However, in many countries and for many companies worldwide a complete transition to rail transport of freight is not feasible due to either a lack of available railway infrastructure or high investment costs. With that in mind, this paper aims to assess the potential of road-rail intermodal operations as a strategy to reduce atmospheric emissions, and thereby help mitigate climate change worldwide. This was achieved by quantifying and comparing emissions of CO2, CO, CH4, NOx, hydrocarbons and particulate matter in a case-study that considered road-only and intermodal road-rail routes from 17 production facilities to their nearest port, according to International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) policies, as well as Euro V and EPA (United State Environmental Protection Agency) emission standards. The results showed that an intermodal road-rail operations would reduce emissions by up to 77.4%, be up to 43.48% more fuel-efficient and up to 80% cheaper than operating solely with road transport, posing as a viable strategy to enable more companies and countries to mitigate climate change.