Railway Sustainability

 WSP is committed to being a positive influence on the quality of life in the communities we serve around the world. Every day, we seek new ways to develop infrastructure that is not only safe and reliable, but also preserves resources, protects and enhances natural environments and promotes social and economic vitality. 

Sustainability is one of our priorities when we start working on a project. We integrate land use and public transport to create vibrant, livable communities. We incorporate energy-saving features in transit systems, develop context-sensitive designs in highway projects and apply construction techniques to salvage and reuse existing materials.  We focus on the life-cycle of materials and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to achieve values important to our clients and our communities. 

FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENT

We are a member of the US Green Building Council and the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. We sponsor the widely-used Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) sustainability rating system, and the emerging Envision rating system, focused on infrastructure sustainability framing and assessment. In fact, we have LEED accredited professionals around the world who successfully apply LEED to rail facilities.  But critically for rail and transit infrastructure projects, we have over 230 Envision-accredited professionals, as well as professionals accredited in other rating systems, such as BREEAM, who have successfully implemented infrastructure sustainability on some of the most critical rail projects in the world.

Public transport facilities and infrastructure are a key means to achieving future-ready communities. Strategies that improve sustainability in their delivery include:

• Reduction of construction-related volatile organic compounds (VOC) that pollute the air and harm human health
• Reduction of materials whole lifecycle GHG emissions
• Reduction of construction impacts through community engagement, maintenance of way, and careful planning of alternative modes and routes during improvements to transportation systems
• Incorporation of renewable energy generation into infrastructure
• Incorporation of climate forecasts and extreme weather trends (flooding, heat stress, sea level rise) to understand the intersection of projects with future climate threats
• Development of asset-specific adaptation measures and decision-making tools for long-term resiliency of infrastructure
• Use of fuel cells and environmentally-friendly energy for efficient power production with less pollution
• Maximum use of natural lighting and ventilation
• Use of green roofs, green infrastructure, and rainwater collection and reuse for reduction of stormwater runoff
• Use of light-emitting diode (LED) signals and fixtures, and other energy efficient solutions
• Occupancy sensors and timers
• Regenerative braking, which feeds energy back into a third rail or an energy storage system such as a battery or flywheel
• Installation of platform screen doors to reduce train heat brought into stations and allow for a significant reduction in station cooling requirements
• Creation of value capture tools, sustainable development policies and plans

We have experience with all scales of system and vehicles, enabling us to bring both proven solutions and knowledge where innovation can apply. We have designed, financed, constructed and supported alternative-fuel vehicle depots and facilities. 

We are ideally qualified to provide technical expertise and engineering services to transit agencies and other entities that are refreshing their fleets and exploring new technologies, as well as to legacy agencies who need to maintain their system and deliver vital service to our communities.