A 24 000 m2 rolling stock production and commissioning hall at Stadler’s Pankow site in Berlin has been handed over by construction contractor S&V. A logistics facility will be added by 2024 in the second phase of the €70m programme of investment in the site, which is being backed by the Land of Berlin and Investitionsbank Berlin.
Malaysian oil, gas and monorail engineering company Scomi Group has formed a 51:49 joint venture with railway engineering company RCA Asia Engineering to bid for tenders for tracklaying, station and railway infrastructure construction contracts.
Alstom has invested €100 000 in Campus Cyber SAS, becoming an associate member of an initiative to develop a cyber security campus bringing together industrial government and academic partners in the La Défense area of Paris. ‘This will be the first campus in the world with a focus on the rail sector; said Eddy Thésée, Vice-President of Cybersecurity at Alstom. ’Leveraging expertise from other sectors to boost the ongoing development of cybersecurity solutions designed for mobility will ensure a rapid and resilient response to operators’ demand.’
A service centre in Toshkent has been opened by the UzXCMG joint venture which was formed in 2014 by Uzbekistan’s national railway UTY (49%) and China’s XCMG Corp (51%) to produce construction machinery. Spare parts are being manufactured at UTY workshops to reduce costs and reduce the need for imports. Similar service centres are envisaged for the Navoi and Andijon regions.
Transmashholding’s Kolomna factory has opened a highly automated eight-station assembly line which can produce a diesel engine in 42 h, increasing the plant’s capacity to 650 engines per year.
Technology investment firm Accel-KKR has completed the acquisition of Navis and its supply chain software platforms, including the Navis Rail Intermodal TOS and Freight Rail Planning & Scheduling software powered by Biarri Rail. ‘Weaknesses in our global supply chains have been tested during this pandemic and the results have been telling’, said Park Durrett, Managing Director of Accel-KKR, on July 2. ‘These disruptions have created more urgency for advanced technology to better plan, execute and optimise cargo movement in order to provide a more predictable delivery experience for all shipping partners.’
Ticket retailer Trainline has appointed Christopher Michau as European Carrier & Supply Director, with responsibility for the continued growth of the company’s network of operating partners. Joining from Expedia, he is based at Trainline’s Paris office. Tim Zeisset joins Michau’s team from Deutsche Bahn to lead on carrier relations for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, while Massimo Vesentini has been appointed Head of Supply for Italy, primarily focussed on developing Trainline’s relationships with Trenitalia and Italo-NTV. Vesentini joins from the Maccorp Group, which manages currency exchange and rail ticketing for Italian stations under the Agenzie365 brand.