Europe-wide B2B marketplace for used rail freight - opportunities and risks

Since April 2023, the B2B marketplace for the rail industry railauction.plus has been an innovative place for the sale of used rail assets, with a focus on resource conservation and secondary utilization.

Despite the industry's existing pioneering role in sustainable mobility, digitalization offers further untapped opportunities to increase efficiency and sustainability. Digital solutions in areas such as personnel planning, maintenance etc. are already bringing significant improvements. This is particularly important as the industry has traditionally been rather hesitant when it comes to digitalization. However, the need for macroeconomic transformations has led to a rethink and increased openness to digital solutions. This can already be seen in railauction.plus and thus in the online trading of rail freight between companies in the rail industry.

The liberalization of the railways has made the European market more fragmented, but also more diverse. The increase in the number of players requires a clear positioning and at the same time an opening for co-operation. The railauction.plus platform supports the industry in this by attempting to unite the fragmented market and emphasize resource conservation and secondary recycling.

For smaller operators, railauction.plus offers the opportunity to organize their inventories more flexibly and react more quickly to necessary requirements. The platform effectively addresses the problem of obsolescence by offering an alternative for the procurement of hard-to-get spare parts. By bringing together supply and demand for rail spare parts & co., railauction.plus makes a valuable contribution to increasing efficiency and protecting the environment in the railway industry.