Škoda Group held a ceremony in Firenze on October 28 to celebrate the opening of the head office of its newly launched Italian subsidiary. Olesea Lachi, previously head of the group’s rolling stock sales, has been named managing director of the new division. The company held a special event called ‘Tram Revolution’ to mark the occasion, where a series of presentations were given by policymakers and industry specialists setting out the prospects for light rail in Italy.
Spanish Export Credit Agency Cesce has signed a strategic agreement with Alstom to promote sustainable exports and to strengthen the Spanish railway supply industry. The partnership will allow Alstom to structure the financing of its foreign operations in a more flexible way in terms of purchasing decisions and supplier designation. It provides for an overall annual maximum of €500m and will be reviewed on a yearly basis, depending on employment levels, investment and the export levels of Alstom’s Spanish businesses.
FirstGroup says it has been ranked third out of the world’s 90 most influential transport companies in the World Benchmarking Alliance’s 2022 Transport Benchmark, making it the top performing UK transport company in the category. The WBA’s Climate & Energy Benchmarks measure corporate progress against the Paris Agreement; the Transport Benchmark ranks 90 of the world’s largest transport companies (covering freight and passenger transport by air, land, rail and sea), with scoring based on an Assessing Low-Carbon (ACT) assessment (60%) and a social assessment comprising core social and transition indicators (40%). FirstGroup achieved a total score of 41·3%, compared to a median of 19·4%.
Rail cybersecurity specialist Cylus has appointed Shao Fei Huang to its advisory board. A former Chief Information Security Officer of Singapore’s Land Transport Authority, he was recently appointed Group CISO at metro operator SMRT. Bringing more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience, Huang is expected to contribute to Cylus’ product development and global expansion.
Alstom has signed a partnership agreement with the Hungarian government to develop the country’s transport sector. The agreement was signed in Budapest last month by Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge; Balázs Gáspár, General Manager of Alstom Transport Hungary; and Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade. The scope of the deal includes potential expansion of the Alstom product range in Hungary and increased manufacturing capacity; as well as the creation of more jobs and professional training opportunities.
Marking the 10th anniversary of the opening of the former GE Transportation locomotive plant in Fort Worth in October 2012, Wabtec reported that the facility had delivered approximately 3 000 new locomotives, kits, and modernised locomotives to railways in North America and Australia over the decade. Group Vice President for Freight Operations Justin Downs said the team had ‘positioned the site as one of Wabtec’s most productive operations by demonstrating the ability to take on different types of work and exceeding customer expectations’.