TITLE:
Green Operation Paths and Performance Optimization of Railway Freight Transportation under China’s Dual Carbon Targets: Mechanism Analysis, Quantitative Modeling and Empirical Verification
AUTHORS:
Xi Chen, Huibing Cheng, Dengheng Zheng
KEYWORDS:
Dual Carbon Targets, Railway Freight, Green Operation, Carbon Emission Accounting, Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction, Intelligent Transportation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
22,
2026
ABSTRACT: Against the background of China’s ambitious dual carbon goals (carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060), the transportation sector, as a major source of carbon emissions, shoulders a crucial decarbonization mission. Railway freight transportation, featured by large transport capacity, low energy consumption and low carbon intensity, has become a core carrier for green and low-carbon transformation of China’s freight transport system. This paper focuses on the green operation of China’s railway freight under the dual carbon constraints, systematically sorts out the current development status, carbon emission characteristics and existing bottlenecks of railway freight green operation, constructs a carbon emission accounting model for railway freight operation based on IPCC guidelines and national railway industry standards, conducts quantitative analysis on carbon emission reduction potential and green operation efficiency with actual operation data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (CHINA RAILWAY) from 2020 to 2025, and explores multi-dimensional green operation paths including equipment upgrading, energy structure optimization, intelligent scheduling and transport mode shift. The empirical results show that China’s railway freight unit turnover carbon emission intensity is only 1/8 - 1/9 of that of road freight, and the comprehensive carbon emission reduction benefit is prominent; by 2025, the electrification rate of national railways will reach 74%, and the unit transportation workload comprehensive energy consumption and carbon emission will decrease by 12.8% and 14.7% respectively compared with 2020. The implementation of green operation strategies such as distributed photovoltaic power generation along railway lines, hydrogen energy hybrid locomotive application and multimodal transport integration can further increase the carbon emission reduction rate by 18.3% - 22.5%. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted policy suggestions from the aspects of institutional improvement, technological innovation, market mechanism and industrial coordination, aiming to provide theoretical support and practical reference for the high-quality green development of China’s railway freight industry and the realization of national dual carbon goals.