Creating sustainable mobility

    Inventing more sustainable mobility is a challenge that concerns the means of transport, the infrastructure and the modes of transport used. Opening up rural areas, developing territories, preserving the environment, these are all necessities that require rethinking transport infrastructure and supporting the emergence of new, more sustainable mobility solutions.

    Why do we innovate?

    • To dare to open the way to a sustainable future

    Inventing a more sustainable form of mobility is a challenge that concerns the means of travel, the infrastructure and the modes of transport used. Opening up rural areas, developing territories and preserving the environment are all necessities that require a rethink of transport infrastructures and the emergence of new, more sustainable mobility solutions.

    • To be one step ahead & meet the needs of our employees and customers

    Innovation is one of our key priorities. Indeed, innovation is a major lever for:

    • Improving our processes, our products, our services
    • Staying competitive
    • To anticipate 
    • Mobilising employees
    • Creating value
    • Satisfying our customers

    Our innovations

    P95T (substitute train), 25000V, 1500V

    Discover our machinery

    EcoStop 2.0, Hydrogen refuelling station, KUSEC 3 KV and 1.5KV section insulators in Switzerland, CR Product range

    Discover our products

    Open Innovation at the centre of our strategy

    For us, innovation is a state of mind. Innovation is essential if we are to remain competitive in a constantly changing environment. That's why innovation is an integral part of our strategy.
    Open Innovation is a key element of our approach. We are constantly on the lookout for new partners with whom we can collaborate to meet tomorrow's challenges and continue to offer innovative solutions to our customers.
    In addition, we are convinced that the use of new technologies and methods such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) is essential to optimise our activities and projects. We are therefore exploring and implementing these areas in concrete solutions.
     

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    An in-house innovation dynamic

    As a world leader in railway infrastructure and a provider of solutions for sustainable mobility, innovation is seen as an essential lever for growth and success at Colas Rail.

    This is why the Innovation department aims to structure the company's global innovation approach, to support innovators in the development of their projects and to install an innovation culture throughout all subsidiaries. Colas Rail wants to involve all its employees in a collaborative innovation approach to help create sustainable and responsible mobility solutions for today and tomorrow.

    How can we do this?
    The department offers two annual events to boost everyone's creativity and potential:

    InnoBoost

    InnoBoost is an idea acceleration programme aimed at all employees wishing to be involved in Colas Rail's innovation process. This programme allows employees to propose ideas, which are challenged and selected by members of Colas Rail's management. Once selected, the teams with these ideas benefit from support from the Innovation Department and the necessary resources (coaching, time and funding) to verify the value and interest of their ideas, with the aim of deploying them within the company or externally if the solution allows it.

    An innovation competition to give free rein to your imagination

    The Colas Rail Innovation Competition takes place every year. Open to all Group employees, the aim of the competition is to highlight the innovations implemented within the company over the course of the year and to reward the best among them. To take part, our employees post their innovations on a dedicated internal collaborative platform. The innovations are then assessed by a panel of judges, and the winners are rewarded.