The association

Who we are: An association of wood sleeper producers, suppliers, and significant railway network operators in Europe with headquarters in Bingen, Germany. Our goal: Wooden sleepers as important components of rail superstructures are to be maintained. They should be further strengthened in railway networks where the technical requirements allow.

Trains are well known to be the most environmentally friendly conveyance methods: Rail travel contributes only 36 g of CO₂ per passenger kilometre, because the electricity used is predominately sourced from renewable energy sources. But there is even more room for improvement. Wooden sleepers can provide a valuable contribution to even improve this environmentally friendly aspect.

Wooden sleepers from our members are made of (demonstrably) sustainably-obtained raw materials and contribute due to their CO₂ storage capabilities a significant contribution to climate protection as they are used.

And there’s more:

Wooden sleepers can also help under certain circumstances to reduce noise and vibrations along oft-travelled routes. This has been shown by the technicians at the Technical University of Berlin.

The outstanding ecological contribution from wooden sleepers has already been impressively confirmed in a study conducted by the Federal Material and Testing Institute (EMPA) in Switzerland. This also demonstrated their usefulness to generate energy at the end of their useful life.

Despite this, we’ve not simply rested on our laurels. We’ve taken the time to make further improvements to wooden sleepers with close collaboration with railway operators, particularly focusing on the aspects of technical and ecological improvements. Thus, we have focused on developing possible alternatives to creosote, which has been proven effective over the years, as well as measures to improve the protectant volumes and distribution. The result is a new type of sleepers equipped for the future. They have already been tested in the real world …

Our members offer pure raw wooden sleepers, impregnation and completion of rail elements which can be inserted, up to proper disposal of old sleepers: We therefore invite you to obtain deep knowledge on our new internet site. You will be inspired by the many advantages of wooden sleepers and the performance of our members. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Sincerely,
Rainer Schimmelpfennig,
First Chairman