In the midst of global supply chain crisis hitting various industries, Germany's national railway company says it wants to help keep its trains ready to roll by quickly 3D printing replacement parts.

In an effort to source spare parts at a time of supply bottlenecks and shortages of raw materials, Deutsche Bahn has announced that it is now repairing its trains by 3D-printing its own spare parts and tools.

The aim is to get their trains back into service more quickly than before instead of waiting for fresh parts to arrive, the company said on Thursday, announcing a major expansion of in-house 3D printing.

Seat numbers, ventilation grilles and grab handles are among the things now being printed at Deutsche Bahn's train plants in the German cities of Nuremberg and Neumuenster using the company's own large-format 3D printers.

"We want our trains to keep running for our customers and not wait in the workshop," said board member Daniela Gerd tom Markotten.

While 3D printing has long been used for model trains, its use in railway industry has only emerged in recent years, with railway companies increasingly paying industrial 3D printing experts to develop spare parts upon request.

Deutsche Bahn says has commissioned 26,000 3D-printed parts since 2015. These parts are now set to be made by the company itself.

 - dpa