Barriers and Challenges to the Circular Economy Paradigm Shift in the Swedish Railway System

Waste reduction and reduced environmental impacts are the aims behind the European Union's accelerated paradigm shift toward a circular economy. Although the transport industry is an important sector, limited applications and implementations of the circular economy have been reported in the railway industry. To accelerate the transition, potential barriers that slow down the implementation process should be identified and addressed. This study consists of a structured questionnaire followed by an interview, which focuses on identifying and evaluating the importance of circular economy implementation barriers for the Swedish railway system. The study shows that different organizations include circular economy implementation in their future plans. Meanwhile, the experts highlighted that the current business model, economic competitiveness of virgin materials, logistical challenges, and regulatory inconsistencies slow down the transition process. The pillars of system innovation and implementation have been analyzed, and the results show that "Business models, investments, and procurement" are the most important pillar category, followed by "Infrastructure". The results also show that the prominent barriers are "Market price advantage of virgin materials", "Lack of supply chain integration", "Storage and site limitations", and "Complexity of wideranging products and volumes reaching End-of-Life". These barriers highlight that the economic competitiveness of virgin materials, logistical challenges, and regulatory inconsistencies are the most prominent issues.

Keywords: Circular Economy, Sustainability, Railway System, Barriers Analysis.