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About Railsponsible
Railsponsible is an industry initiative focused on sustainable procurement, with the aim to continuously improve sustainability practices throughout the supply chain of the railway sector. The initiative is open to all railway operators and companies across the railway sector value chain, along with key sector associations, that share its vision, mission and commitments.
Railsponsible is an industry initiative dedicated to sustainable procurement throughout the railway sector supply chain. Its mission is to address the challenges of sustainability and climate protection, setting the course for the future and benefiting future generations. According to Stefan Braun, President of Railsponsible and CPO of ÖBB, Railsponsible recognizes the importance of finding the best possible result where ecology and economy intersect, while ensuring the viability of procurement activities. This requires ambitious approaches and significant efforts across the entire supply chain, which can only be achieved through collaboration with suppliers and partners. Railsponsible serves as an exchange platform, facilitating the achievement of sustainability goals and enabling the development of climate-friendly mobility solutions for tomorrow.
Railsponsible was founded in 2015 as a sector-wide initiative aimed at promoting sustainability within the railway sector. This collaborative effort brought together leading companies in the rail industry to address environmental, social, and ethical challenges in a concerted manner. Railsponsible’s history is marked by its commitment to responsible business practices, fostering innovation, and driving positive change in the railway sector. Over the years, Railsponsible has played a pivotal role in raising awareness, sharing best practices, and driving sustainability initiatives, making it a significant force in the industry’s journey towards a more sustainable future.
Railsponsible is governed by its presidents and the General Assembly, where the top decision makers from the member companies meet several times per year.
The current presidents are Stefan Braun (CPO at ÖBB) and Jeroen Alting von Geusau (Head of Sustainable Development & CSR and SNCB-NMBS)
Members
Meet us
CAF
We develop sustainable transport solutions to improve people’s quality of life.
Deutsche Bahn
DB Group is a leading provider in the mobility and logistics sector. The Integrated Rail System includes our passenger transport activities in Germany, our rail freight transport activities, the operating service units, and the rail infrastructure companies. DB Group, with its head office in Berlin, employs about 340,000 people.
Our primary concern is the shift from road traffic to climate-friendly rail. To this end, we rely on integrated operation of transport and rail infrastructure, the economically and environmentally intelligent linkage of all modes of transport, as well as cooperation in German and European networks. At about 33,000 km, our rail network in Germany is Europe’s longest. We are also one of the largest energy suppliers in Germany.
DSB
DSB’s overall purpose is to ensure that there is ‘A sustainable way forward with room for all of us.’ This purpose is based on DSB’s societal task of reducing congestion on the roads and being a climate-friendly mode of transport as an alternative to taking the car.
FS Group
The FS Italiane Group is one of the largest industrial companies in Italy and at the heart of the Italian mobility system.
More than 82,000 people, 16,800 kilometres of railway lines, 1,670 tunnels, 23,000 bridges and viaducts, 2,200 stations 32,000 kilometres of roads, 2,000 tunnels, 18,000 bridges and viaducts, 1,200 roadman’s houses, 10,000 trains/day, 7 million vehicles/day on the road.
The “Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group” is striving to create an ecosystem of sustainable mobility and integrated logistics that can count on interconnected and resilient infrastructure.
By investing heavily, improving services and promoting transport solutions that have less environmental impact, we intend to move towards a new business vision focused on responsible development that respects natural balances and creates lasting value for the entire community.
Our core business has always been the safe, comfortable and efficient transport of millions of people. For this reason, our main strategic objective is to guarantee the best quality of service in terms of punctuality, safety and comfort, always putting the passenger at the heart of all decision-making processes.
Knorr-Bremse
The Knorr-Bremse Group is the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. For more than 100 years now the company has pioneered the development, production, marketing and servicing of state-of-the-art braking systems. In the rail vehicle systems sector, the product portfolio also includes intelligent door systems, control components, air conditioning systems, windscreen wiper systems and platform doors systems. Knorr-Bremse also offers virtual driving simulators and e-learning systems for optimal training of rail personnel. In the commercial vehicle systems sector, the portfolio ranges from complete braking systems with driver assistance systems, torsional vibration dampers and power train-related solutions to transmission control systems for greater efficiency and lower fuel consumption.
As a global technology leader in braking and subsystems for rail and commercial vehicles, Knorr-Bremse has always looked to the future and played a major part in making transportation sustainable, safe and environmentally friendly. This entails a great degree of responsibility, which is why we have made Corporate Responsibility (CR) an integral part of our corporate culture and strategy.
Kontron
I much appreciate to lead a business, where we have the possibility to contribute to the European Green Deal with meaningful and sustainable solutions. It makes me proud to see how highly involved and motivated our employees are on our common mission, to support our customers making their business successful, while always also having environmental aspects in mind.
Bernd Eder, CEO
La Farga
We work with a responsible value chain and we want to generate a positive impact with the decisions and activities that we carry out in our environment. Raising awareness in the market involves publicizing and promoting the company’s commitment to the circular economy and sustainable copper solutions among customers and other collaborators.
NS
Sustainable accessibility of the Netherlands. For and by everyone. That’s what NS stand for. As a train operator NS strives to provide convenient, fast, safe and affordable travel and to ensure that people can reach their destinations in a sustainable manner. NS is developing into a broad service provider that works with other companies to offer the customer the option of ‘smart’ travel based on the most up-to-date information. Convenient travel, from door to door.
ÖBB
As a comprehensive mobility and logistics service provider and one of the largest employers in Austria, it is ÖBB’s mission to make a valuable contribution to protecting the climate in Austria and the world every day, look after the environment and conserve resources. We are also aware of the high positive impact our purchasing activities can have on the economy, society and environment. Therefore we continuously increase sustainability requirements in our tenders and send impulses for change to the market. We place a special emphasis on decarbonization and circular economy.
SBB CFF FFS
The Swiss Federal Railway connects people, goods and places, bringing millions of people together and linking up cities, cantons and rural regions. Safety, comfort and respect for the climate are at the heart of all SBB does. The connections enable genuine quality of life, independence and a sustainable future for generations to come. SBB is one of the largest providers of external contracts in Switzerland and works together with thousands of suppliers. The Company cares about purchasing goods and services which are produced under good conditions for people while making responsible use of nature.
Siemens Mobility
Driven by the megatrends of urbanization, digitization, globalization, and demographic change, the demand for mobility will continue to increase rapidly. At the same time, there is an intensifying need to mitigate climate change, as well as the depletion of natural resources, to shape a sustainable and livable future. It is one of our central motivations at Siemens Mobility to act decisively and introduce sustainability standards that enable decarbonization and dematerialization of the entire mobility value chain.
SKF
SKF strive towards sustainable rotation and to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring.
SNCB
Within the Belgian Railways, SNCB is the operator which organizes and markets the rail service. SNCB is also responsible for the maintenance and refurbishment of trains and of its stations.
Trains are economical in terms of energy and, compared with the number of passengers being transported, the rail infrastructure also needs less ground space than highways infrastructure. These benefits make it the ideal, environmentally-friendly means of transport supporting our ability to travel.
That’s why we encourage transport by train. But our ambition doesn’t just stop there. For the next five years, we have defined specific objectives that enshrine the way that we work into a dynamic that respects the environment.
Under the motto “Sustainable transport, sustainable work”, we are encouraging all of our partners to go green. In specific terms, this boils down to continuing to reduce the consumption of energy and water, the use of consumables, such as paper, to further limit the production of waste, to reduce noise pollution and to continue in our efforts to decontaminate soil.
Wabtec
Wabtec is committed to sustainable value creation. Our strategy is to contribute to a better, more sustainable world through our unique business offerings, leading technologies, and sustainable business practices. These help us capitalize on market opportunities and reduce safety and environmental risks, while creating value for our customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
Custom Insulation
Custom Insulation have worked alongside some of Europe’s largest rolling stock, coach and caravan manufacturers, developing an excellent reputation of high quality, fully bespoke, low cost solutions for acoustic and thermal insulation for over 50 years.
Talgo
Talgo´s unique and highly efficient technology is recognized at the international level, with Talgo trains successfully operating in 44 countries of the four continents.
Schaeffler
The Schaeffler Group has been driving forward groundbreaking inventions and developments in the field of motion technology for over 75 years.
Saarstahl Rail
Saarstahl Rail has specialised in the manufacture of rails for the various railway sectors for over 125 years. The rails are made from green steel blooms from Saarstahl Ascoval electric steel plant. The greener manufacturing process, based on a circular economy model through scrap recycling, allows a significant reduction of CO2 emissions.
Mission and Vision
Our Mission
Sustainability is about the future of our children. What is the world which I want to pass on to the next generation. Our use of resources and pollution we create all around the world is something we should worry about. And finding solutions we can only do side by side, together. Therefore Railsponsible has an important mission. How can we act in our supply chain and together set standards so that the next generation has a more beautiful planet.I strongly believe that we should act, and act together to get success. The railway sector is partly the solution in climate friendly mobility and at the same time should play an active role to improve its supply chain environmental impact.
Presidency