A European consortium of railway organisations is currently developing a sector-wide business-to-business eco-label. The goal of this label is to enable more sustainable transport by pushing suppliers to improve, sharing and communicating results, and tracking improvements over time. As such, the eco-label is likely to impact both supply chains and asset life cycles in the sector. To evaluate the efficacy of the eco-label prototypes’ design, it is essential to investigate the extent to which the label has the desired capability to impact the life cycles of railway systems positively. The impact of the eco-label as a life cycle engineering tool has been explored in two cases: one for rolling stock and another for railway infrastructure. Both cases focus on the tendering process for the acquisition of new systems and their effects on decision-making and data management. The results of this research can be used to improve the railway eco-label prototypes further and guide life cycle engineers in the design and development of labels in other industries.
Cannappah et al. (Thu,) studied this question.