@misc{9230463,
  abstract     = {{The state owned railway infrastructure is central to Sweden’s transport system but is at the same time resource and cost intensive to construct and maintain. Rails constitute a particularly significant component, as they have a long technical service life and are manufactured from energy intensive steel. Variations in load and wear across the railway network men that rails taken out of service in certain parts of the infrastructure may, in other contexts, retain remaining technical capacity. Against this background, there is a need to investigate under which conditions the reuse of rails can be economically justified and compared to new production.

The aim of this study is to develop a method that, based on technical criteria, cost factors and geographical location, indicates where the reuse of railway rails has economic profitability potential within the Swedish railway network. The method is designed as a layer based GIS analysis in which technical, economic and spatial dimensions are analysed separately and subsequently integrated.

In the first layer of the method, technical criteria are applied, where maximum permitted axle load (STAX) is used as a binary selection criterion to identify track sections where reuse is technically feasible. Indicative costs for reuse and new production are then calculated in two separate layers, focusing on transport costs as well as technical inspection and procurement of newly produced rails, respectively. The results are integrated in a synthesis layer and visualised geographically using an indicator that represents the cost difference between the alternatives.

The results show that rail reuse in the studied cases consistently exhibits positive economic profitability potential compared to new production. Variations in the indicator value can mainly be attributed to differences in transport distance and geographical location in relation to nodes within the transport chain. The study demonstrates that the proposed layer based GIS method can be used as an overview planning tool to identify where further investigation of reuse potential is warranted. However, the results are indicative and not intended to serve as a basis for project specific decisions.}},
  author       = {{Wester, Adam}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Lönsamhetsanalys av återbruk av järnvägsräler - En lagerbaserad GIS-metod för indikativ kostnadsjämförelse i det svenska järnvägsnätet}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}