State-of-the-art mobility for active climate protection: Record rail sector figures call for modernisation

The growing popularity of rail as a form of transportation calls for a higher degree of investment in innovation and the modernisation of trains in order to meet the growing demand for safe, convenient mobility. The modernisation specialist SBRS is helping railway technology providers to implement innovative refurbishment projects.

More and more people in Germany are choosing to travel by bus and train. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of trips taken with regular transportation services in 2018 rose by 0.6 per cent year-on-year to a record level of around 11.6 billion. On average, almost 32 million trips per day were recorded nationwide in local and long-distance transportation.1 There was above-average growth in long-distance travel – above all by rail. In 2018, Deutsche Bahn AG alone counted around 2.6 billion rail passengers, which represents a new record.2

The increasing popularity of rail travel calls for a higher level of investment in both trains and rail infrastructure in order to ensure smooth, safe transportation. The German federal government also wants to promote this development and plans to invest around 86 billion euros in maintaining the country’s railway infrastructure over the next ten years, thereby creating a sound basis for active climate protection.

Leveraging its wealth of expertise in the railway sector, SBRS is supporting suppliers by providing innovative technological solutions for customised refurbishment projects for trains. These measures serve to extend the service life of trains, thereby cutting the cost of new purchases and increasing both safety and convenience for railway staff and passengers alike. SBRS, the specialist for modernisation projects, uses products manufactured by both the Schaltbau Group and external suppliers to provide its customers with individually tailored refurbishment solutions.

Successful modernisation projects for rail transport also include projects in the field of interior door refurbishment. For example, as part of the ICE1 (Intercity Express 1) project to extend the service life of Deutsche Bahn’s carriage type 803, new, more compact interior door drives are to be installed. Here, SBRS has deployed the linear electric interior door drive system already successfully tested in the X2U projects of the Swedish SJ and Avelia VHST.

Demand for the innovative refurbishing strategies designed by SBRS is continuously growing. True to its slogan “SMART SOLUTIONS FOR POWER AND MOBILITY“, as a major technology partner, the Schaltbau Group ensures that smart e-mobility concepts can be implemented efficiently, quickly and in line with the specific needs of its customers.

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1 German Federal Office of Statistics, provisional figures, April 2019
2Deutsche Bahn, Annual report 2018