First-ever locomotive protected by sustainable partly bio-based coating

Protecting rail vehicles with renewably sourced coatings would reduce the carbon footprint of transporting goods or passengers.

Rail is already a more sustainable form of mobility than road transport, for example. But in view of the fact the sustainability of rail vehicles can be improved even further, the aim for the transport industry was to reduce the use of fossil resources in locomotive coatings.

Lankwitzer’s customer Newag, a leading Polish rail vehicle manufacturer, was very interested in trying a partly bio-based clearcoat with our Desmodur®  CQ hardener on one of its diesel locomotives. Newag was driven by the desire to bring added value to its customers and saw coatings based on renewable resources as a key selling point. Mateusz Fedko, the Newag Project Manager said: “A new coating has to fulfill customer specifications, and when it adds value as well, like this partly bio-based clearcoat, it’s a great way to differentiate us from our competitors.” The new coating could be applied just as smoothly as the company’s standard clearcoat. Results from our joint testing together with Lankwitzer demonstrated the excellent performance of the clearcoat based on Desmodur®  CQ and proved that it complies with rail industry specifications. And as Michael Voxbrunner of Lankwitzer points out: “I’m sure this partly bio-based clearcoat will bring added value to our customers in other industries as well.”