In 2008 Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de Energía (IDAE) and Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (FFE) signed a collaboration agreement which had the aim of defining the tasks to be performed in order to develop a methodology that allows rail transport operators and public authorities bidding public services to select the most energy efficient trains.

As a result of this agreement a work group on energy labelling in rail transport, whose management was assumed by FFE, was created. This document describes the work carried out and the results obtained within the framework of this agreement, which have been adapted to the latest technical recommendations. In it there is a definition of a homogeneous method to attribute to each train, in one or in several types of services and infrastructures, their energy consumptions and associated CO2 emissions.

With this tool, designers and rolling stock manufacturers will have an incentive to reduce consumption and therefore reach a competitive position in the market. They will also be able to improve the image of their products to the society and the buyers, as they will be able to communicate the improvements achieved in this field in an accurate way.