USA: Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group has acquired Balfour Beatty’s Track Solutions business and rebranded it as Rhomberg Sersa North America.
The company provides inspection, ballast cleaning and subgrade management services and equipment to private and public customers including NJ Transit, MTA, BNSF and Amtrak. It operates a fleet of eight ballast cleaners including three RM80 undercutters, as well as 10 Plasser MFS wagons and two specialised power wagons and more than 30 experienced technicians. The business generates annual revenues of around $10m.
The $7·25m acquisition completed on October 29 expands the geographic footprint of RSRG, which now operates in seven countries across three continents. The company said it would be ‘one of the few European rail contractors to have a significant and permanent presence’ in the USA.
‘Over the past 20 years, Balfour Beatty has invested in some of the very best ballast maintenance equipment and technologies, which has translated into Track Solutions becoming a leader in trackbed and ballast maintenance as well as inspection technologies in the USA’, said RSNA CEO Michael Match. ‘Meanwhile in Canada, Rhomberg Sersa is the market leader in ballast cleaning, milling and specialised urban grinding. This acquisition will create by far the largest owner-operator of ballast cleaning services in North America. With the market-leading inspection technologies, we can provide end-to-end solutions to clients to restore their track bed and top of rail.’
Balfour Beatty explained that its US rail strategy was now focused on core operational rail services, including large capital programmes, traction power and operate & maintain services.
