In business for close to 100 years, family-owned flooring manufacturer and supplier Altro Transflor has become an industry leader in sustainability. With facilities in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and other international locations, the company is focused on finding the safest options for bus and rail systems worldwide. Whether it’s using the right materials or finding progressive ways to recycle, Altro addresses recent trends, helping customers meet even the toughest demands of their industry.

Green Operation
Environmentally sustainable floors are a sought after product in the current transit market.

“We’ve seen a lot of customers become more conscious about eco-friendly materials,” said Richard Finnegan, marketing manager for Altro Transflor. “They’re specifically looking for recyclable materials, or materials with recyclable content; flooring that offers some sort of green story.”

Today, sustainability is an industry priority alongside function, price and durability. In keeping with a green philosophy, Altro operates an in-house safety recycling facility based in the company’s U.K. headquarters called Recofloor. According to Finnegan, Recofloor is the only one of its kind in the world.

Rather than sitting in landfills, Altro’s waste is transported to the recycling center, and then, turned back into safety flooring. This is an arduous task as vinyl and other popular materials in transit flooring typically contain a high level of grit. While the tough grit helps ensure slip resistance and durability, it dulls out the blades of most everyday recycling machines. However, Altro’s heavy-duty machine does the job.
The company’s main fleet of flooring products — Meta, Chroma, Chroma Windmill and Timbersafe II —  all contain recycled content and are low volatile organic compound (VOC) emitting, which improves indoor air quality as well.

To reduce the greater industry carbon footprint, Altro collects scraps and waste not only from its own factories, but also from various job sites around the U.K., including its competitors’.

Effective Materials
Weight reduction is a large priority for Altro, as the company mostly manufactures flooring made from low weight sheet vinyl material. The company aims to make transit vehicles more than just street legal by taking as much weight off the wheels as possible.

The vinyl material is available in 1.8, 2.2 and 2.7 millimeters; the best option for a vehicle is determined by how much foot traffic it receives daily.

“For a heavy city transit bus with lots of foot traffic, we recommend a higher floor thickness,” said Finnegan. “For a shuttle vehicle for a hotel or airport, we could recommend a lower thickness. But by industry standards, even our thickest material is still pretty light.”

One competitive advantage to offering lighter floors is the ability to provide cost cuts for customers. “Saving a few pounds here or there is just another way of improving fuel economy,” said Finnegan. “Lightweight materials can make a bus more efficient.”

Therefore, some customers see these lightweight options as an environmental benefit in addition to practical savings.

“Transit agencies with green fleets will look to spin our products that way since most electric or hydrogen buses go even greener by installing lightweight products,” said Finnegan.  

Using effective flooring materials also means finding the safest options. Although safety has always been a built-in industry requirement, Altro reports seeing an increased awareness for safety among customers.

“It’s another trend we’ve seen; whereas in the past this was uncommon, customers will now ask for information like ‘how slippery is your product?’ There seems to be a greater concern with liability and litigation,” said Finnegan.

To address this growing concern, Altro has expanded their collection of safety accent pieces, for step nosing to prevent slips or walkway areas. The company manufactures over 15 different of safety flooring options. [PAGEBREAK]

New Products
The company has introduced two new rail products this year; both are geared toward meeting all of the unique, complex requirements and needs of the industry.

The Altro Transflor Momentum is a vinyl/acrylate blend designed specifically to meet all of the state and federal regulations for rail regarding smoke, fire and toxicity — three of the largest industry safety concerns.

“We also do flooring for buildings and those vinyl floors will pass the strictest regulations for hospitals or schools, but train requirements are even stricter,” said Finnegan. “When the standards are computed, they’re determining the size of the room or the environment and how many people are inside at one time.”

The toxins involved in some of the popular coloring materials — like vinyl — contribute to this problem. They have a low burn rate and are often not allowed in all train compartments because of it.

“If a train was for instance derailed and on fire in a tunnel, the burning materials in that small space would leak toxins, potentially putting the lives of passengers in jeopardy even after surviving the accident,” said Finnegan.

Since the Momentum flooring option is only partially vinyl, it can be used anywhere on the train. It contains silicon carbide for increased slip resistance and durability and is available in two thicknesses, 2 mm and 2.5 mm. The hue range consists of 12 solid and chipped colors.

Altro Transflor’s second new product is the PVC-free, acrylic Tungsten flooring for rail interiors. It is a vinyl alternative for train manufacturers that prefer not to use vinyl or have banned it entirely. The product copes easily with heavy footfall along the length of a vehicle and is slip resistant. It is compliant with overground and underground trains, trams and light railways.

Aesthetic Options
It’s easy to forget the extent to which the color of a vehicle’s flooring really impacts its interior space.

“It’s funny, but the thing we find the most is that customers really overlook color,” said Finnegan. “They will pick a lighter floor covering because they think it’ll look nice. But just because it might look nice in your home, for instance, doesn’t mean it’ll work for a place that deals with a high volume of daily human traffic.”

Passengers track in dirt, snow, rain or sand, making very light colors difficult to clean and maintain. Altro provides customers with an extensive color and design palate for floors, but recommends installing a complex neutral or a gray.

“We guide them toward something a little darker that will work with their design scheme, but is not impossible to clean and keep clean,” Finnegan said.

Currently, the company’s most popular color is “Storm,” a gray shade with flecks of blue and yellow sprinkled in. “We jokingly say that gray is the new black just because for bus interiors, it tends to work with most transit buses,” said Finnegan. “It’s an excellent color for busy environments.”

Altro has also seen more demand for chipped and patterned colors over the years. Usually it is easier to maintain and hides any permanent stains or blemishes well. The company has developed more options to satisfy this growing trend.

“Ultimately customers are looking for something that’s going to last long,” said Finnegan. “These complex patterns, although more costly upfront, last longer and are easier to repair and maintain. They have a low lifecycle cost so customers save more on the long run. You also want to look for products with warranties. It means the manufacturer is confident it’s durable.”