Sustainability

Introduction

Environmental and social sustainability are essential elements of the long-term vision for the rail industry. Achieving this and meeting government targets, requires a unified sustainability plan that will lead the sector in defining an industry-wide approach.

Sustainable Rail Blueprint

The first industry-wide sustainability plan, the Sustainable Rail Blueprint (The Blueprint) has been co-created and facilitated by RSSB with industry and overseen by Department for Transport.

The Blueprint provides a framework for aligning strategies and commitments across the industry to establish rail as the backbone of a cleaner future transport system.

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Learn more about the Sustainable Rail Blueprint and its development.

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Sustainable Rail Topics

Decarbonising rail and increasing its use – both passenger and freight – will be a big step towards fulfilling the UK’s commitment to net zero. Together with industry we are co-creating the Sustainable Rail Blueprint to lead the industry in achieving this goal and ensure the railways continue to be one of the lowest carbon transport options for passengers and freight.

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Although rail is recognised as an efficient and environmentally friendly mode of transport, noise levels attributed to it have increased. Exposure to dangerous levels of noise and vibration can have adverse effects on the health of employees, customers and local communities and is often a major source of dissatisfaction.

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Network Rail plays an important part in this area as one of the country’s largest landowners. They are committed to achieving biodiversity net gain by 2035, while other rail organisations also own, lease or manage significant areas.

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While recycling and recovery methods, including incineration, are effective in diverting waste from landfill, a circular perspective expands this thinking to include ideas such as redesigning assets to be less resource-intensive, sourcing renewable materials, eliminating single-use plastics from passenger journeys, and reusing deconstructed assets for local community projects.

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Rail is responsible for, or linked to, approximately 20 serious pollution incidents per year, as well as many hundreds of less serious incidents. Although organisations collect information on water use and have reduction strategies, but these aren’t compiled and collated to provide a detailed understanding of water use across the industry.

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Social value can be defined by measuring the impact of activities on people and wider society’s welfare and wellbeing. As social value becomes more important, rail needs to build back better, continue to level up and deliver value add through our operations. RSSB has developed a guide to help you understand social value and the competencies needed to build and maintain our social value.

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Air quality is recognised as a significant public health issue, with transport a major contributor to emissions. Overall rail emissions may be relatively minor, but these can be significant at a local level. Nationally, the contribution of rail to air pollution is relatively small when compared to other modes but may be significant at a local level.

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Climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather conditions, which can introduce additional safety risks for rail colleagues and the public, damage assets and disrupt services. To respond and adapt effectively rail needs to collaborate and develop skills and capabilities to embed climate change considerations into their work to improve resilience.

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While much activity in community rail is based around local relationships, the industry needs a defined centre of expertise to establish consistent good practice. Key to this will be collaboration and alignment with local authorities and regional transport bodies.

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As rail adapts to the changing economy it will need to attract, engage, and inspire young people as well as experienced workers who have the skills and attributes to meet the ever-changing industry needs. Understanding future workforce requirements and potential skills gaps will be essential to support the rail industry and its supply chain.

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People are the lifeblood of the rail industry. Rail has an influential role to play in improving health and wellbeing of its employees and to tackle economic inequality and promote equal opportunity. In addition, rail needs to become a more attractive employer, to help plug its skills gaps attract and retain the best talent.

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The goals set out in the blueprint will be supported by work of RSSB’s sustainability team as they continue to develop tools and resources that will support establish rail as the backbone of a cleaner future transport system.