Technologies

Environment

Economic growth and sustainable development don’t have to be contradicting if the share of rail in overall transport increases, and modern rail vehicles are acquired. Environmental issues receive increased attention of policy makers at both National and European levels. The Rail Manufacturing Industry is fully aware of its responsibilities and supports a rail oriented transport policy.

The immediate challenges of climate change and the necessity for the rail industry to communicate its environmental performances compared to the other transport modes, the Sustainable Transport Committee should be given a central role inside UNIFE’s organization. In order to assure a coherent and effective common position and effort of the rail industry on the environmental fields, UNIFE STC acts as co-ordinator for all the environmental matters and provides a platform for consensus-building, in collaboration with UNIFE’s experts.

The railway manufacturing industry vision for 2020 is a sustainable intermodal transport system, with railways as the backbone. The railway manufacturing industry is therefore looking to provide eco-efficient products and service solutions. Eco-efficiency is seen to be achieved over the whole life cycle - from production to operation to end of life, and by targeting key areas as eco-procurement, noise, energy efficiency, diesel emissions, emissions trading, sustainability, reporting and product declarations.