The use of performance indicators for environmental assessment within the railway business: the RAVEL workbench prototype, a web-based tool

Within the Brite/Euram project RAVEL, an Internet-based tool has been developed which allows an assessment of railway vehicles by means of a set of environmental performance indicators (EPIs). The specific methodology that is applied for such an assessment is highlighted in this article, along with consideration of the feasibility of system implementation within an industrial environment. The way this methodology is applied is illustrated by, on the one hand, a description of the prototype for the web-based RAVEL tool, and on the other hand, by the calculation of EPI scores for an exemplary train system. Finally, the possibility of extending the practise to other industrial sectors is explored.