STATION-AIR
Investigating the impacts of urban railway STATION hubs on AIR quality in its environs.
Overall & Specific Objectives
The overall objective of the STATION-AIR project is to support the effective management and mitigation of air pollution in the environs of large urban railways hubs in Ireland. To meet this objective the following specific objectives are proposed:
compile and review the available information on best international practices for the assessment and management of air quality arising from large urban railway hubsapply this best practice to the Irish context considering several detailed case studies and pilot sites provide an assessment of the impact of large railway hubs in Ireland on localised air quality in residential and urban areas; and develop recommendations for the mitigation of air pollution emissions contributing to transport related air pollution (TRAP) in the environs of urban railway hubs.
STATION-AIR project scopes include considering the aforementioned objectives and the impacts of rail emissions on personal exposure in a train carriage, in enclosed or partially enclosed railway stations, or in local environs of urban railway hubs.
The specific objectives of the STATION-AIR project are as follows:
Undertake a systematic literature review of international best practices and apply it to Irish data on how to mitigate against/reduce high contributions of harmful emissions. Apply synthesis of best international practice to Ireland by ground truthing on selected Irish sample sectoral sites/case studies to pilot. Perform an air quality impact assessment at urban railway hubs in high-density residential/urban centres. Produce mitigation recommendations to reduce the impacts of rail on localised air quality.
This project is led by academics in the School of Engineering in Trinity College Dublin, with researchers in the Air Pollution Research Group and the Trinity Centre for Transport Research and Innovation for People (TRIP).
The project team will collaborate with SONITUS Systems as part of air quality monitoring campaigns to be undertaken in and around the railway stations being evaluated.
The WP structure for the STATION-AIR project is as follows:
WP.1 will collate all background knowledge and produce a best-practice review of appropriate measures for air quality management in urban railways hubs. WP2 and WP3 will be responsible for simultaneous measurement and modelling activities to capture and examine the air quality in the environs of railway hubs. These WPs will avail of existing, new and innovative means of air quality assessment, from the use of existing data for baseline purposes to supplementing this with citizen science sources data, and the use of drones for capturing unique environmental data that informs advances in modelling of the indoor and outdoor railway microenvironments. The findings from these WPs will inform the health impact assessment of mitigation measures, and the environmental and economic impacts of their implementation in WP4. Core WPs 5&6 will ensure the professional management of the project.
The STATION-AIR project will make the following ambitious advances beyond the state of the art:
- Develop a decision-making framework to assess the suitability of different air quality mitigation measures in the environs of urban railway hubs.
- Capture the impact of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions in measurement and modelling of air quality in the environs of railways hubs.
- Testing innovative techniques for environmental and pollution data collection in the environs of urban railway hubs.
- Apply recognised integrated measurement and modelling methods to effectively evaluate mitigation measures for different local population groups in indoor and outdoor environments.
- Implementation of adaptive passive air pollution control techniques to promote air pollution dispersion and deposition within and surrounding urban railway hubs.
- Development of practical mitigation recommendations to deliver improved air quality solutions in and around railway stations.
Contact Us
If you want to find out more about the STATION-AIR project, please contact the Project Coordinator Dr. John Gallagher (j.gallagher@tcd.ie).
Project Funding
This project is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2021-2030 and co-funded by the Department of Transport. The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications.
