Metrics
Resource inflows (E5-4)
Track ballast, concrete ties and rail steel form the basis for the rail network. A total of about 223 million t of track ballast, about 73 million concrete ties and about 7 million t of rail steel are installed in the German rail network.
In the material flow accounting for 2024 carried out in 2025, DB Group had resource inflows related to the resources of ballast, steel, concrete, copper and aluminum in the amount of 5.5 million t. About 60 % of this is accounted for by track ballast, about 15 % by concrete ties and about 5 % by rail steel. Information from Group and business-unit-specific IT systems for the management of material master data is used to determine quantities. Where data is not available, expert estimates and studies are used.
| Use of materials in track infrastructure | 2025 | 2024 | Change | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | % | ||||
| Track ballast (thousand t) | 3,531 | 3,236 | +295 | +9.1 | 3,880 |
| New material | 3,117 | 2,876 | +241 | +8.4 | 3,413 |
| Recycled material | 414 | 360 | +54 | +15.0 | 467 |
| Recycling share (%) | 11.7 | 11.1 | +0.6 | – | 12.0 |
| Concrete ties (thousand t) | 978 | 830 | +148 | +17.8 | 1,069 |
| New material | 918 | 759 | +159 | +20.9 | 976 |
| Recycled material | 60 | 70 | –10 | –14.3 | 93 |
| Recycling share (%) | 6.1 | 8.5 | –2.4 | – | 8.7 |
| Concrete ties (thousand) | 3,302 | 3,053 | +249 | +8.2 | 3,475 |
| New material | 3,100 | 2,573 | +527 | +20.5 | 3,175 |
| Recycled material | 202 | 240 | –38 | –15.8 | 300 |
| Rail steel (thousand t) | 243 | 247 | –4 | –1.6 | 280 |
| New material | 238 | 244 | –6 | –2.5 | 278 |
| Recycled material | 65 | 63 | 2 | +3.2 | 70 |
| Recycling share (%) | 26.6 | 25.6 | +1.0 | – | 24.9 |
Period shown until 2023: October 1 to September 30.
The total quantity and share of recycled material for track ballast increased in 2025. As it was not always possible to promote processed, usually more cost-intensive track ballast due to the financing agreements with the Federal Government, no major increase was achieved.
The share of recycled concrete ties used fell further in 2025. The availability of reconditioned concrete ties is still limited. The reason for this is an extended restricted list of removed concrete tie types and years for reconditioning, which was introduced as a safety precaution. The background to this is a precautionary program for the inspection and replacement of concrete ties that has been running since summer 2022.
The slight increase in the share of recycled rail steel is due to the increase in the volume of reconditioned rails and the pilot project for low-emission rails. In 2025, 4,975 t (previous year: 2,695 t) of rail steel from the rail network were reused following reprocessing through reprofiling. The sharp rise is due to improved technical conditions for reprocessing and a framework agreement for the reprocessing of rails that came into force in 2025.