Bremskerl
Bremskerl-Reibbelagwerke Emmerling GmbH & Co. KG is a family-owned German manufacturer of brake friction materials for rail vehicles, headquartered in Estorf-Leeseringen in Lower Saxony.
Bremskerl was founded in 1929 and has remained in family ownership since. The company is based in Estorf-Leeseringen near Nienburg an der Weser, where development and production are concentrated.
According to the company, the group employs around 350 people worldwide, roughly 300 of them in Germany. It operates subsidiaries in North America, China and India, alongside its rail, industrial and commercial vehicle friction business.
Products for rail
For rail vehicles, Bremskerl develops and manufactures disc brake pads and composite brake blocks — consumable friction components at the core of railway braking systems. The portfolio spans organic and sintered friction materials in both standardised and application-specific geometries.
Disc brake pads are available with International Union of Railways (UIC) approval for a range of application classes and speed ranges. The sintered R502 pad is developed for heavy-duty disc brakes at speeds up to 250 km/h, with UIC certification in category 4.3.
Brake blocks are supplied in the standard LL, L and K types. LL and K composite blocks are the categories used across Europe to replace cast-iron blocks on freight wagons, primarily to reduce rolling noise.
Friction linings sit among the wear-limited rolling stock components that determine maintenance intervals. Customers are vehicle builders, brake system integrators, operators and workshops.
Market position
The company holds ISO 9001 certification and the International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS, ISO 22163), and its products have been asbestos-free since 1988. Bremskerl is a member of the Federation of European Manufacturers of Friction Materials (FEMFM).
Bremskerl holds approved-supplier status with railway operators including Deutsche Bahn, SBB, ÖBB, SNCB, České dráhy and ZSSK. Beyond rail, the same friction technology serves industrial applications and commercial vehicles, giving the company three parallel business fields.
Current activity
In January 2026, Bremskerl announced that it had passed supplier audits conducted in November 2025 by Czech operator České dráhy (ČD) and Slovak operator Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK), retaining approved-supplier status with both.
According to its own channels, Bremskerl additionally supplies friction components for the Transport System Bögl (TSB) magnetic levitation system, which received an operating licence from Germany’s Federal Railway Authority in November 2025 but has no public line in service.
