Environment

We manage our environmental impact through our Safety and Environment Plan, which coves energy consumption, emissions, waste disposal and depot and station management.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement in environment management, all of our traincare depots have now achieved ISO14001 accreditation.

Back to top

A large amount of bulk mixed waste is generated every day at stations and on trains as a by-product of our passenger activities. We are actively trying to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill and have developed an industry leading waste segregation and recycling operation at Wimbledon Traincare Depot called 'Garbology'. Waste is sorted into different types, with items such as cardboard and paper taken away for recycling, which also results in significant savings in waste disposal costs. 

Back to top

A culture of 're-use and recycle' is gathering pace within our organisation. A contract has been awarded to waste management and recycling company SITA to set up recycling schemes at nine pilot sites, including stations and small depots, to recycle office paper, newspaper and cardboard.

Back to top

Emissions from diesel trains impact on local air quality. Some 6% of our rolling stock are diesel units, the remainder being electric trains powered by the third rail.

We have taken part in trials of low sulphur gas oil fuel (ULSD) trials at our Salisbury depot in conjunction with the engine manufacturer, the train leasing company, the Association of Train Operating Companies and the Rail Safety and Standards Board. 

Back to top

The energy consumed at our offices, stations, and depots also contributes to carbon dioxide emissions. We have an energy and water management strategy based around monitoring and managing consumption. We aim to focus on practical energy and water management at local level, encouraging managers and staff to be aware of waste and how to stop it.

The Carbon Trust has looked at a number of our sites and advised us on how to strengthen our strategy.

Back to top

Wherever possible we encourage our staff to travel by train, by providing free travel on our services both for work and for leisure use. 

Back to top

This can include oily contaminated clothes, rags and gloves, solvent-based paint and tins, most oils, fluorescent tubes, asbestos, certain greases, fridges that contain CFCs, designated electrical components such as PC monitors, certain batteries and certain chemical containers. Dedicated containers for the various waste streams have been placed at locations such as the fleet engineering depots across the company for safe storage of these, materials prior to safe disposal by our registered waste contractor.

We are committed to ensuring full compliance with our environmental responsibilities, ensuring proper segregation and disposal of hazardous waste and recycling where possible. 

Back to top

In the past, the older slam-door trains used to deposit toilet contents directly onto the track, creating an unpleasant environment for both track workers and passengers waiting at stations. The withdrawal of these trains and the introduction of the our Desiro fleet has allowed us to make a massive environmental improvement.

All effluent is now collected in the Desiro’s toilet tanks and then emptied at special facilities at depots across our network. The effluent is then removed hygienically into the national sewage network. All of our units have controlled emission toilets.

Back to top

We focus on practical water management at sites, encouraging local managers and staff to switch things off where not required and to report waste if it cannot easily be stopped. At all depots and stations water consumption is billed based on metered consumption. Regular reading of meters allows us to identify sudden increases that may be caused through wastage or underground leakage.

Other than domestic use within our stations and offices, our main use of water is in our carriage washers and in re-tanking our train toilets. We have replaced our carriage washing machines with new modern washers that are more environmentally friendly, using alkaline instead of acid wash and in some cases recycling water. 

Back to top

As a train operator, noise from our services and our stations can adversely affect our neighbours. We recognise this and work hard to be good neighbours while at the same time fulfilling all regulatory requirements.

The installation of audible announcement systems at our stations has been good news for passengers, but has involved some delicate negotiations regarding noise levels with local home owners. The introduction of new power-door trains has also stopped the old noise of slamming doors, but the newer style train horns and alarms which indicate the door is closing have caused concern in some areas.

Sounding the horn is often a compulsory procedure at certain locations, so we have worked to reduce the horn noise while still meeting the mandatory regulations. The rail industry, led by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, has introduced a night-time quiet period between 2300 and 0700, when trains will no longer routinely sound their horns at whistle boards.

Depots can also generate unwanted noise with most of the activity taking place at night. While it is not possible to stop work, we do liaise closely with local communities and authorities to try and minimise the disruption to neighbours.

Back to top

We have taken part in the development of driving techniques to conserve energy. By encouraging drivers to 'coast' from certain points into a station they can reduce their power. Continuing to use power on the approach to stations then braking heavily, not only uses more energy, but also increases wear on the brake pads.

Back to top

This type of braking creates excess electrical energy, but instead of losing it as heat to the atmosphere, it is channelled back into the conductor rail to be used by other trains in the area, giving an overall energy saving.

Back to top

As well as ensuring we deliver the standards we have set for ourselves, we need to ensure that our suppliers also are true to those values through our procurement processes. We use ISO 14001, Environmental Management Standard, as supplier selection criteria where appropriate for all new tenders.

We are also committed to being a good customer and have laid down terms and conditions on which our suppliers can depend. 

Back to top

As with most service industries, we provide our customer-facing employees with a uniform. As most of the UK’s clothing comes from abroad, we need to ensure it sourced in a responsible way.

Our main clothing supplier has a well-respected policy and auditing regime, stating minimum working conditions for its suppliers, including size of work areas, minimum breaks and health and safety requirements. 

Back to top

Suppliers are encouraged to minimise, and where possible re-use, any packaging materials. This is particularly important for deliveries to fleet depots.

Railpart, one of our largest fleet suppliers, aims to always re-use pallets and other materials, with the leftover packaging returned on the delivery vehicles, minimising both costs and carbon footprints. 

Back to top

Banner, our corporate stationery supplier, has FSC Accreditation and is part of the office2office group plc, which is itself ISO14001-accredited and holds awards for commitment to the environment. Banner uses only copier paper from sustainable and responsibly managed forests. We support this approach, even though cheaper and less environmental-friendly paper could be purchased. Train timetables are available online on our website, which can also help save paper. 

Back to top