AUSTRALIA: Italian railway construction company Salcef has agreed to acquire Pilbara Rail Maintenance, aiming to combine its global footprint, European technology and advanced methods with the Australian firm’s local railway construction and maintenance expertise, equipment and long-standing relationships.
PRM will retain its name and continue to be headed by founder Chris Prior and his existing leadership team.
‘We’ve been working closely with Salcef for more than 12 months to transform the way rail maintenance is performed in Australia’, Prior said on November 11. ’The opportunities to mechanise legacy rail maintenance processes are huge. We are talking about enhancing safety and efficiency to levels never experienced on Australian rail projects. We were going to execute these projects as a joint venture; however, as we progressed, we realised we would be more successful if we became one entity.’
Salcef CEO Valeriano Salciccia said ‘our strategic and commercial rationale for this acquisition was simple: PRM stood out as a first-class operator with an unrivalled safety record.’
