The Hübner Group management board has been reorganised, with Uwe Bittroff leading the bus gangway systems unit, Ingolf Cedra responsible for Material Solutions & Photonics, Kai Mentel continuing to lead Mobility Rail and Claus Schäfer responsible for central corporate functions. Previous CFO Gerald Steinhoff has left for a new role in Asia, and Helge Förster, who was Managing Director responsible for Mobility Rail and Mobility Road, is to leave in spring 2023.
Rolling stock maintenance and subsystems company Molinari Rail GmbH in Dessau filed for insolvency on November 25, citing financial liabilities built up in previous years, delays to projects owing to the pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine, and significant increases in the cost of energy and materials. Dr Susanne Berner was appointed as provisional insolvency administrator by the District Court of Dessau-Roßlau. Operations are continuing, with Berner saying her aim was to explore all options for the future and keep as many jobs as possible.
Alpha Trains has raised €548m in a ‘challenging’ debt market environment through a seven-year €200m green holdco loan from institutional investors and senior bank loans with a commitment of €258m and a six-year tenor and €90m with a 10-year tenor. This will be used to refinance existing debt and fund electric trains. The transaction was arranged by Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank and Santander as debt, rating and green advisers and placement agents. Watson Farley & Williams advised Alpha Trains, Allen & Overy advised the lenders and PwC Legal advised the Alpha Trains Luxembourg legal department.
Wabtec has obtained EN15595:2011 and EN15595:2018 and Interoperability Constituent certification from RINA for its DistanceMaster adaptive wheel slide protection technology. This follows laboratory tests by Deutsche Bahn Systemtechnik in Minden, and operational testing by Eurailtest using an SNCF Regiolis train. ‘Certification opens the door to the use of our new generation of high-performance adhesion solutions on new main line trains, as well as retrofits’, said Lilian Leroux, President of Wabtec Transit.
The US Transportation Security Administration is seeking feedback on approaches to strengthen cybersecurity and resiliency in the rail freight, passenger and mass transit sectors by January 17 2023.
Chicago-based rail freight software company Telegraph has announced $10·1m in Series A funding led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Slow Ventures, 9 Yards Capital, Motivate Venture Capital and Extra Credit Ventures, as well as returning investors Construct Capital, 8VC and BoxGroup. The funding will be used for recruitment to enable expansion of the existing offering and development of new features.
Fluor has joined the Executive Committee of the US High Speed Rail Coalition. President of the Fluor’s infrastructure business Thomas Nilsson said ‘high speed rail can play a key role in increasing capacity in travel by providing alternatives to the current transportation modes while reducing our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels and creating new, highly skilled jobs and increasing economic activity’.