Railsponsible Supplier Award 2025 Winner: Koni

Railsponsible is proud to announce that Koni, part of ITT Motion Technologies, has been awarded the Railsponsible Supplier Award 2025 at this year’s Railway Forum in Berlin. 🏆

Railway Forum 2025 – Shaping Change Together

From 2–4 September 2025, the rail industry gathered in Berlin for one of its most important events of the year – the Railway Forum. Under the motto “The future of the rail sector: shaping change together”, the conference brought together operators, OEMs, suppliers, policymakers, and innovators for three days of exchange and collaboration.

The Supplier Award Ceremony took place on 3 September 2025 in front of a broad audience of rail industry leaders, policy makers, and innovators. This year, the award focused on “A cost-saving sustainable or circular innovation” and was presented by Railsponsible President Jan Grothe (Deutsche Bahn) together with Dr. Nicolas Lange (Knorr-Bremse).

Why Koni Stood Out

This year’s competition attracted a record number of applications, reflecting the growing commitment to sustainability and circular solutions across the supply chain. After careful review, the jury unanimously selected KONI for their bold and inspiring approach to product life extension. 🌱

Instead of replacing railway dampers, KONI offers the possibility to refurbish them – turning maintenance into a sustainable cycle. Their results speak for themselves:

– 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟰𝘅

– 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟲𝟯% 𝗚𝗛𝗚 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀

– 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻

This innovative model aligns sustainability with economic value — a true example of leading by doing.

A Word from Koni

“This award is the proof that KONI is committed to sustainable solutions in the Railway dampers market. We have been refurbishing dampers for more than 10 years for several train operators across Europe and seeing the increase of demand from different train operators and OEMs for this service we have been expanding our facility in Ostrava, Czech Republic, to accommodate this.” – Koni

Celebrating the Shortlist

Railsponsible also congratulates the other shortlisted companies for their impressive contributions to a more sustainable rail sector:

Grupa Kęty S.A.
Norsk Hydro
Tisca Tischhauser AG
HOPPECKE Batterie Systeme GmbH

Looking Ahead

The Supplier Award once again showed how sustainability and efficiency can reinforce one another – and how suppliers across the rail value chain are taking action. Beyond the award, the Railway Forum provided valuable opportunities for dialogue, networking, and collaboration on the future of sustainable procurement.

Railsponsible thanks all applicants, speakers, and participants for their contributions and looks forward to continuing the journey of shaping change together. 🚆🌱