Material cycles – Input resource management

Rail steel, track ballast and concrete ties form the basis for the rail network. In total, there are about 6.6 million t of rail steel, about 225 million t of track ballast and about 74 million concrete ties in the German rail network.

Period shown until 2023: October 1 to September 30. 
¹⁾ Data collection process for rail steel recycling share established in 2023.

Two levers for increasing the share of recycled rail steel were identified:

• The rail refurbishment of old rails, and
• the procurement of lower-emission steel. Using green steel is key to significantly increasing the share of recycled steel. We are working on the necessary conditions for its use.

For the rail network, we are adopting measures to reduce the need for new materials and to keep used materials in the value-added chain for as long as possible. To that end, we have established material cycles for track ballast No. 51 and concrete ties No. 73:

• In 2024, 2.7 million t (previous year: 3.2 million t) of worn track ballast were removed from the track network, cleaned, sharpened or replaced. The stones are reprocessed for internal use into recycled ballast or for further use as split or crushing sand for road construction. This is done either directly on-site using mobile treatment plants or in external, certified facilities. This significantly reduces the amount of new ballast required and the associated transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. In 2024, for example, 1.2 million t (previous year: 1.6 million t) of track ballast was cleaned as part of ballast cleaning, which depends on the maintenance volume and involves picking up, sieving, cleaning and returning ballast to the track, about half of which, 0.6 million t (previous year: 0.8 million t), was returned directly to the track network. In conjunction with HTW Dresden, TU Munich, EBA and plant manufacturers, we have been investigating a new process for the more gentle processing of track ballast since 2023. This is aimed at increasing the share of recycled track ballast. In 2024, the necessary laboratory tests to prove the effectiveness of the process were successfully completed. This paves the way for the two-year operational trial of the track ballast prepared in this way. The share of recycled track ballast has decreased. This is due to additional costs for the procurement of recycled track ballast and the reduction in supply on the market as a result of changes in the legal framework. The introduction of the Federal Substitute Building Materials Ordinance led to a shortage of laboratory capacity due to increased analysis requirements and to restraint on the part of both processing companies and their clients. The reduced supply of recycled track ballast resulted in increased orders for new ballast and thus reduced the share of recycled track ballast.
• About 240,000 reconditioned concrete ties were installed in the track network (previous year: about 300,000 concrete ties). In 2024, about 645,000 t of unusable concrete ties were removed (previous year: about 532,000 t). The changes are mainly due to the defective concrete ties replacement program. Where permissible, concrete ties are reconditioned for reuse in the track network. Concrete ties that are not suitable for this are recycled by certified disposal companies and used for other applications, such as road or path construction. The blocking of concrete ties of certain production years from selected companies for reconditioning has led to a reduction in the potential initial quantity suitable for recycling. Furthermore, the defective concrete tie replacement program has increased the quantity of new concrete ties as a share of the total concrete sleepers used and thus reduced the share of recycled ties.

Further resource conservation activities

Our resource conservation measures are diverse:

• Among other things, by way of the use of innovative 3D printing methods No. 149 we contribute to efficient and resource-conserving component production in vehicle maintenance. We avoid superfluous stock; only the material that is actually needed is used in production; and we extend the life cycle of the vehicles by printing components that are no longer available from the manufacturer. Since 2015, we have printed more than 150,000 (spare) parts in more than 700 different applications using 12 different 3D printing technologies. However, as not every print succeeds at the first attempt, even in this resource-saving process, and waste is produced, we have teamed up with the company Recycling Fabrik to develop a recycling cycle for 3D printing waste from the most commonly used printing materials for all DB sites in Germany.
• In Zorneding (Bavaria) No. 6 we opened the first concourse building made entirely of wood (known as the Little Green Station) at the end of 2023. Following the opening of this pilot site, the second of its kind in modular timber construction was inaugurated in Haar (Bavaria) in July 2024. Further locations are being planned throughout Germany.
• As part of the DB mindbox GreenTec program, we worked with the Strong by Form start-up to design a weather shelter made of innovative lightweight timber construction and tested it for a temporary exhibition phase. The bionic design made of wood composites allows a slim and material-reduced dimensioning and thus reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of the building materials. The weather shelter is currently being tested at Berlin Südkreuz station for evaluation in customer operations.
• Also part of the DB mindbox program is Minviro, which is pursuing a holistic life cycle assessment (LCA) approach together with DB Long-Distance. Various components and phases of ICE seats are analyzed. The aim is to create transparency through scenario and potential analyses and to develop recommendations for more sustainable action. Together, materials are compared and processes improved to make the future of mobility more sustainable.