From Rail to Rail: Joint Exploration Towards a Circular Railway Infrastructure Supply Chain
ProRail and voestalpine Track Solutions Netherlands have taken the initiative during InnoTrans, the international trade fair for transport and railway technology in Berlin, to jointly explore a more circular railway infrastructure supply chain. Both parties underline their ambition to keep materials from the existing railway infrastructure in the railway production chain for longer. This maximises the value of these materials while reducing the need for virgin raw materials.
With a symbolic handshake between the management boards of both organisations, a joint study has been launched to explore how a closed-loop supply chain for railway materials can be realised in practice.
High-Quality Rail Steel Becoming Increasingly Important
Across Europe, significant investments are currently being made in clean and modern production technologies through the use of Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs). This production method makes it possible to remelt scrap steel into new steel products. Because rail steel is a high-grade material, rails represent an important source of raw material for the production of new steel.
Exploring the Opportunities Together
Through this planned exploration, ProRail and voestalpine Track Solutions Netherlands will investigate how rails can be returned to the production chain in a controlled and demonstrable manner, and how they can once again contribute to the manufacture of new rails.
Establishing this process will make a substantial contribution to sustainability objectives by significantly reducing CO₂ emissions associated with rail production.
The initiative builds on concrete steps that have already been taken in recent years. Over the past two years, several pilot projects have been carried out, including the production of the first circular rails within the greentec Steel programme and at other Electric Arc Furnaces across Europe. Various types of electrically produced rails have already been installed in the Dutch railway infrastructure.
To ensure future raw material supplies for Electric Arc Furnaces, tests have also been conducted in which trains delivering new rails to the Netherlands were simultaneously used to transport end-of-life rails back to the steel producer.
These developments demonstrate that the technical and operational foundations are already in place. The next step is to gain insight into how such initiatives can develop into a stable, predictable and scalable supply of high-quality, sustainably produced rails for the railway sector. nwezig zijn. De volgende stap is inzicht verkrijgen in hoe dergelijke initiatieven kunnen doorgroeien naar een stabiele, voorspelbare en schaalbare stroom van hoogwaardige en duurzaam geproduceerde spoorstaven voor de spoorsector.
Circular Rail at Utrecht Central Station
That these developments are not merely ambitions for the future, but are already being tested in practice, became evident last week. Last Friday, so-called circular rails produced by voestalpine Railway Systems were installed in existing track at Utrecht Central Station for the first time.
The Road Ahead Towards Circular Railway Infrastructure
In the coming period, we will jointly map the opportunities, boundary conditions and challenges. The outcomes of this exploration should provide insight into the role that high-quality material flows can play in the railway sector of the future. Interested in this initiative? Please feel free to contact us.
Eric Brink
Business Unit Manager Rail Services
