Measurements of Air Pollutants at the Underground Train Station of the BER Airport and its Adjacent Tunnel
Creators: name: Obando, Daniel
name: Vogt, Ulrich
name: Düring, Ingo
name: Schmidt, Wolfram
name: Michael, Sabrina
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Air quality
subject: railway transport
subject: PM - Particulate matter
subject: Particulate Matter/analysis
subject: railway emissions

description: Introduction

For almost 190 years, rail transport has played a primary role in both passenger and freight transportation, impacting the economic development of the entire country. According to the integrated report of the German train company, in 2020, 33,399 km of functional network were reached throughout the entire national territory (DB 2020). It is expected that this length will continue to increase in the years to come. Compared to other means of transportation, rail transportation is considered environmentally friendly and efficient (BMDV 2018). However, like other means of transportation, it is also responsible for the emission of pollutants.

Despite this, there is a great deficit in the available information of how this means of transport impacts the environment and air quality, especially in emissions that are not related to combustion processes (non-exhaust emissions) and to what levels of contamination both the passengers and staff are constantly exposed.

This project aims to address this lack of scientific knowledge with air quality measurements in different operating structures of the German train network such as a plain line, freight train station, surface and underground passenger train station and in a tunnel.

 Methodology

The measurements were carried out at the Berlin Airport underground train station from January to March 2024. Four measuring stations were installed at the following locations:

-    - Tunnel-portal

-    - Tunnel

-    - Platform 1-2

-     - Willy-Brandt Platz (background)

At each measurement station, gravimetric (MCZ – LVS16) and light scattering (GRIMM – EDM 180) measurements were performed to obtain information on both the mass concentrations and the particle size distribution. At the stations in the tunnel and platform 1-2, ultrafine particles (Testo – DiscMini and Naneos – Partector 2 Pro) and black carbon (Aethlabs – MA 200) were also measured.

Information about further parameters such as wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, and additional pollutants such as NOX, O3 and VOC, was also gathered.

Additionally, a video camera with sensor movement was installed to collect information about the type of train and locomotive passing in front of the measurement station.

 Results

Preliminary results have shown that particulate matter concentrations in the tunnel can be even of a factor 9 higher than those found at background station during certain days. The average PM10 concentration during the first period analysed can be found in Table 1.

 Table 1. Average PM10 concentration in the different measurement stations 






Station



PM10 in µg/m3





Tunnel portal



20.4





Tunnel



39.6





Platform 1-2



30.0





Willi-Brandt Platz (Background)



11.9





The measurement campaign is still in process, and it is expected to have the analysis of the complete data in the month of April 2024.

 This work is part of the project “Emissions and Immissions from rail traffic – Air Pollutant monitoring and dispersion modelling” supervised by the German Center for Rail Traffic Research at the Federal Railway Authority and funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport.

 References

- Deutsche Bahn (DB) (2020): Integrierter Bericht 2020.

- Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMDV) (2018): Eisenbahnen-nachhaltige, umweltfreundliche, sichere und effiziente Mobilität für Deutschland. Berlin