PURPOSES : The aim of this article is to compare and identify eco-friendly competitiveness between (regional) motorway and high-speed rail(HSR) from the perspective of CO2 emission in the Republic of Korea. METHODS : In order for an analysis of low-carbon competitiveness between the two modes, CO2e emission, CO2eppk (equivalent CO2 gram per passenger kilometer), is employed as a comparison index. As for HSR, the index is calculated based on the passenger transport data and the gross of CO2e produced by Kyungbu high-speed line in 2013. Additionally, the gross of CO2e is computed by the greenhouse gas emission factors of domestic electricity generation mix. Regarding the index of motorway, it is directly calculated using both the official CO2e emission factor and the passenger-car occupancy of motorway. RESULTS: The results revealed, in the case of inter-regional transport, that the CO2e emission of displacement-based cars is 54.9% less than that of HSR, as the domestic electric power systems heavily relies on the thermal power plants over 66%. Note that internal combustion engines commonly used for vehicles are more energy-efficient than steam-driven turbines usually utilized for thermal power generation. CONCLUSIONS: It can be seen, at the very least in our study, that HSR has no superiority over motorway in the case of CO2e emission under the situations of domestic electricity generation mix. In addition, advanced eco-friendly vehicles have strong advantages over HSR. Therefore, all-out efforts should be made to develop and harvest renewable energy sources in order to achieve low-carbon HSR, sparing fossil fuels.

The airborne chlorides environment by de-icing salts of retaioning wall in motorway were examined. It was found that in the retaining wall, height of 14m, the airborne chlorides tend to be decreased by height ranged between 81.0-73.8%.