[sustran] Re: Fw: [cai-asia] Will maintenance keep 15-year old public transport buses clean?

[On the Train Towards the Future!]

From:  (aables at adb.org)
Subject: [sustran] Fw: [cai-asia] Will maintenance keep 15-year old public transport buses clean?

Hi Aurora,

I wasnt clear on your instructions so could you please forward this to the relevant people?

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I am not clear if you mean new buses with new engines, but it seems this is the case. 

First of all, there is of course no "non-polluting" or "clean" so I suppose you mean "low-" and "cleaner" I just want to be clear... not just clearer on this :-)

I am not sure if you are talking about Diesel, CNG or whatnot...

Anyway, if an engine is maintained perfectly, with all parts replaced as necessary, it will stay at the same pollution levels as of time of manufacture. "Maintenance" is a relative term, however, and cannot be assumed to be perfect. You might see a tiny leak following a big plumbing problem in your home, and be able to remedy it with a pot or whatever until you get a plumber again, but of course with a sophisticated system like a bus engine anything beyond smoke and smell - these are not technical terms - will be undetectable except with diagnostic equipment.

Of course, some of the equipment for exhaust recirculation, "Ad Blue" you might be steering towards, particle filters etc. are complicated and if costs for these are not built into a contract for after expiry of the warranty the operator is out of luck. This might be something PT operators should be very careful about. And one very important related issue which we just learned in the Czech Republic is that the railway operator purchased spare parts in advance for their new tilting highspeed trains (not so fast, dont be so impressed, plus they cost USD 20 million each)... but by the time the parts are needed they might be out of warranty.

Of course, during the lifetime of the engine,  the manufacturer might introduce equipment which decreases pollution levels... or indeed the staff of the PT operator might be able to make adjustments, for example to software or other technology, which will also improve things.

Also, perhaps backing up a step in this discussion... though unlikely,  it is possible during the lifetime of the engine that due to a combination of new research and changing politics an engine might simply be declared illegal, with no possibility of retrofitting solutions. So, I would be really careful about investing in any engine from this point on that is not the equivalent of Euro 5 standards for Diesel. This means Diesel with particle filters, exhaust recirculation with Ad Blue, or methane gas engines operated with natural gas (from the ground), biogas (post-consumer and/or post-agricultural) or "Green Gas" (from Svensk Biogas AG in Sweden, the term for the product of purpose-grown crops).

The price will be higher, but this can be compared against the continuing negative health effects of things like particle emissions. The most recent research indicates that even the newest Diesel engines which are higher compression - but without particle filters -  create particles of a size much smaller than from older Diesel engines... these can go deeper into your lungs. So, the issue is not number of particles anymore as much as it is size of particles.

Finally, the price of oil is going to go up faster than natural gas (and I hope everyone is also aware of the tropical deforestation caused by growing of palm oil for Diesel) but natural gas prices will go up if just to follow oil prices. Biogas, on the other hand, could probably be created in the locale of a fuel station for buses and even owned by a municipality that also owns and/or operates the buses... so fuel resources can stay under local control... surely a good way to make it more possible to spend more money on maintainence, or new buses in 16 years. (If it is an option, trains last 30 years, though still need might new engines in 15 or so, by the way....  also, about 800 biogas buses operate in Sweden)

- T

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Todd Edelman
International Coordinator
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