To conserve primary resources and reduce emissions, Deutsche Bahn aims to increase the share of recycled materials used in construction — especially for key resources such as rail steel, concrete sleepers, and track ballast. Ballast consists of the stones that make up the track bed. It both secures the ties and rails in place and provides “elasticity” to support heavy trains.

Because ballast stones must meet specific size requirements, they are regularly inspected and, if necessary, removed, crushed, cleaned, or replaced. The removed ballast is fully recycled by Deutsche Bahn. The stones are either processed on-site or in certified external facilities. Afterwards, they can be reused as recycled ballast in the track or repurposed, for example, as crushed gravel for road building.

In 2024, Deutsche Bahn used around 3.2 million tons of ballast, of which approximately 360,000 tons were recycled ballast.