Rail industry agrees sustainability framework

20 November 2023

The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has launched the Sustainable Rail Blueprint, a new framework to support the rail industry in Great Britain make efficient progress on environmental and social sustainability challenges.  

The organisation says that rail travel is already the most sustainable mode of long-distance transport for people and goods, being responsible for just 1.4 per cent of the UK’s overall transport carbon emissions. However, the broader challenge is not just to deliver net zero but to improve rail’s impact on the environment, local communities, and society. 

The Department for Transport identified the need for a cross-industry strategy in 2020, and funded development of the Blueprint, which has been co-created with industry stakeholders and delivered by RSSB’s sustainability specialists. 

The Blueprint details policy milestones and proposed initiatives to strike a balance between ambition, practicality, and financial pressures. The focus is on delivering government objectives on carbon reduction, improving air quality, protecting and conserving biodiversity, and improving quality of life, with input from all stakeholders including the equipment supply chain.  

RSSB initiatives to embed sustainability across the rail industry include a data platform to measure and monitor sustainability performance, a learning hub to develop the industry’s knowledge and capacity and integration of the Blueprint across the industry’s business processes and contractual mechanisms. 

Photo: Network Rail