Environmental measures
- Bike + Ride Initiative: The Bike + Ride Initiative supports municipalities in creating additional spaces to leave bicycles at stations nationwide. Since the start of the program in early 2019, about 11,000 parking spaces have been created as of the end of 2022. Finished concepts with coordinated spaces have been drawn up for more than 40,000 bicycle parking spaces. The municipalities receive up to 70% of their funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) (municipal directive) and are supported in the surface testing of both DB areas and municipal areas as they are offered rent-free permission to use the areas. The Bicycle Parking at the Station Information Center has been in place since July 2021 to advise municipalities on questions about bicycle parking facilities and bicycle parking garages. DB Netze Stations provides a comprehensive range of information, initially with a fixed-term to the end of 2023. In 2022, we advised 50 municipalities and organized a two-day conference in June 2022, “Bahn.Rad.Parken” (rail/bike/park), which brought the entire industry together for the first time to discuss the topic of bicycle parking at stations.
- DB Rad+ app: With the DB Rad+ app, we promote intermodal travel chains combining bicycle and railway. Cyclists collect cycling kilometers in participating cities and can redeem them digitally from traders from the region and at the station in return for discounts and premiums. Together with the municipalities, we also reward the total number of kilometers cycled with bicycle-friendly infrastructure measures and events. At the same time, users of DB Rad+ generate important data on cycle traffic. These are processed anonymously and made available to the municipalities. This allows municipalities to gain an insight into cycle traffic. In 2022, riders cycled more than 2.5 million km in 14 cities.
- DB Radfix: In 2022, DB Radfix was introduced at Berlin Südkreuz Station and Karlsruhe Central Station. This allows passengers and residents to conveniently book repairs and maintenance for their bicycles online, take their bicycles there in the morning and pick up their repaired bicycles in the evening. Further locations are planned.
- “The Little Station” stands for a new generation of station buildings. These are designed and operated in a climate-friendly way and are intended to make it easier for passengers to spend their time in rural areas. CO₂ emissions are already being reduced by using natural, sustainable and regional raw materials in construction. In October 2023, the Little Station in Zorneding will be opened and the topping-out ceremony for the second Little Station will be celebrated at Haar Station. Both stations will be equipped with photovoltaic systems. Other sites are currently being monitored in studies.
- Climate-neutral heat supply: In 2022, we used energy supply concepts at 28 locations to examine how these can be switched to sustainable, emissions-free heat supply. In 2023, we will begin implementing the concepts.
- Green light to save energy: We are upgrading the lighting to climate-friendly LEDs or other energy-efficient lighting. Thousands of new LEDs were already in use in 2022. In the last five years, we have replaced conventional lighting at about 1,600 stations. The replacement saves around 5 GWh of electricity and 2,700 t of CO₂ every year. In the case of electricity, this corresponds to the annual requirements of about 1,250 four-person households.
- Photovoltaic systems: Since 2021, we have been continuously assessing our existing buildings based on the general framework for the economically viable construction and operation of photovoltaic systems. In future, the focus will be on the use of photovoltaics for renovation or new construction projects. In contrast to the subsequent upgrades of an existing roof, the requirements can be better taken into account and integrated in this way. In addition to the roofs of the concourse buildings, the implementation of photovoltaic systems on platform roofs is also being tested.
- Tenant selection: In 2022, tenants in our stations were again selected according to standardized, predefined criteria. In the area of sustainability, the following rules apply: no single-use plastic bags, eco-power, LED bulbs and (since 2022), the reduction of food waste (tenants commit to take concrete measures to prevent food waste as comprehensively as possible over the long term).
