As part of the Group's ongoing sustainability work, Railcare has set a clear goal of reducing the consumption of fossil emissions from its own locomotives and machinery by 40% by 2025.
MPV. Image Credit: Railcare AB
Our core business is to work on the railway, whilst making it sustainable, we, therefore, must put the environment high on the agenda. We are now clarifying this with a clear goal, says Mattias Remahl, CEO of Railcare.
The decision is based on the sustainability work that is ongoing within the Group. Railcare has concluded that the biggest difference can be achieved by reducing fossil emissions from fuel in the construction and transport operations, and therefore the objective is also linked to this area.
We are an innovative company and will of course develop our business in a sustainable direction. With this clear goal, it will also be possible to put our development hours where they do the greatest good for both the customer and the environment, says Mattias.
During the year, Railcare launched the world's first and largest maintenance machine with 100% battery operation. The MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle) is a big step towards reaching the set goal. The battery-powered machine is a working vehicle with a versatile area of use in railway maintenance and can also be seen as a large power bank on the railway to power other maintenance machines. The MPV has been in operation for approximately four months and has shown very good results. However, even here there is development potential. Mattias explains:
We will now start work on how the MPV can be charged in a more long-term sustainable way. Since the charging infrastructure along the railway is not yet developed, we are investigating how we, with the help of pantographs, can pick up current from the wire to charge our batteries on the MPV.
In addition to continuing the development of battery operation on machines, Railcare will also review its existing locomotives.
Work to convert older diesel engines to be able to meet emission class Stage V on our machines has already begun, which has significantly reduced diesel consumption, Mattias concludes.