On November 7 Alstom inaugurated a €14m expansion of its factory at Taubaté in São Paulo state. The investment has tripled the plant’s manufacturing footprint to 60 000 m2, housing production, testing and training areas, as well as more office space. The company reports that vehicle production is ramping up rapidly at the Brazilian plant, with more than 170 trainsets contracted to be produced in Taubaté by 2028 for customers in São Paulo, Santiago (Chile), Taipei and București.
Consultancy Ricardo has opened its first North America office dedicated to the rail sector. Located in Folsom, California, the office will be led by Kirk Klug, the company’s recently appointed President of North America.
Announcing quarterly results on November 3, Mattias Remahl, CEO of Swedish on-track plant and rail services business Railcare, said the company’s main focus at present was the development of an ‘enhanced’ Multi-Purpose Vehicle, which is to be completed in the second half of 2023. Railcare is also working with Nordic Re-Finance on projects to adapt Traxx and TMe locomotives for use in the Nordics.
SENER has been accredited as an Independent Safety Assessor for Railway Systems under the ISA Accreditation Programme managed by the Standards Council of Canada.
KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy will join the Australasian Railway Association board in November to support ARA’s increased focus on rail freight. ‘We are pleased to welcome Peter to the board to increase our representation among both our freight sector and New Zealand members’, said ARA Chair Danny Broad. ‘Peter will bring extensive experience, particularly as he leads New Zealand’s significant rail improvement plan to meet the country’s future transport needs.’ Reidy was appointed as CEO of KiwiRail in July this year, having previously held the role in 2014-18.
Telecoms infrastructure specialist BAI Communications has appointed Jay Walder to its board as a non-executive director. A former Managing Director, Finance & Planning, at Transport for London, Walder later served as Chairman & CEO of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and subsequently CEO of Hong Kong’s MTR Corp. He has been a Strategic Adviser to BAI since 2018.
