This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.
On July 22 Japan International Co-operation Agency donated railway infrastructure maintenance and reconstruction equipment including hydraulic jacks, rammers, generators, rail levellers and crane beams to Kyiv-Dnipro Intersectoral Enterprise of Industrial Railway Transport. Deputy Minister of Community & Territorial Development Maryna Denysiuk said ‘transport infrastructure, in particular rail, remains one of the priority sectors for recovery. That is why such support from Japan is timely and extremely necessary.’
On July 23 the Coalition of Freight Coupler Producers filed petitions with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission requesting antidumping and countervailing duties following what it says are ‘significant volumes of unfairly priced imports’ of wagon couplers from the Czech Republic and India. The petitions allege that this is distorting the US market, and allege that the Indian industry is receiving unfair subsidies. Antidumping duties aim to offset the amount a product is sold at less than fair value, while countervailing duties are intended to offset foreign government subsidies. The investigative process will take around a year.
Technotrans is to supply Stadler with customised cooling systems for 10 inter-city trains ordered by Saudi Arabia Railways. Technotrans has developed an active converter cooling system with a compressor refrigeration unit for the demanding desert conditions. ‘This is a pioneering project in our successful partnership with Stadler and another important milestone in the growing rail market’, said CEO Michael Finger. ‘We are expanding our product portfolio beyond battery cooling and providing a powerful converter cooling system for advanced trains.’
The Alliance de l’Industrie et de l’Ingénierie des Réseaux Ferroviaires has been established by French infrastructure managers SNCF Réseau and RATP Infrastructures and the Fédération des Industries Ferroviaires, Syndiciat des Entrepreneurs de Travaux de Voies Ferrées and Syntec-Ingénierie. Building on work by SNCF Réseau and FIF, the alliance aims to maintain and develop industry-specific knowledge and harmonise skills. SNCF Réseau and RATP Infrastructure will share their annual investment plans to help suppliers adapt to meet their needs.
Indian Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding for Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp of India Ltd to procure and install machine vision-based inspection system for monitoring rolling stock. The AI/ML-based lineside technology will capture high-resolution images of moving trains, automatically detect any hanging, loose or missing components and generate real-time alerts to facilitate a prompt response.
Knorr-Bremse has opened a global centre for artificial intelligence in Chennai. ‘AI is rapidly finding its way into all areas of the company — whether procurement, human resources or of course IT’, said Chief Digital Officer Sathees Navaratnam. ‘Against this backdrop, our presence in the technology hub of Chennai offers ideal conditions, both now and in the future. Specifically, highly qualified specialists on site can train AI models using our company data and quickly and flexibly adapt so-called AI agents to our needs. The solutions will support teams throughout the group in improving processes, accelerating workflows and making data-driven decisions.’
A groundbreaking ceremony on July 9 marked the start of work to modernise the historic Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck rail depot where CAF will maintain 76 Civity battery-electric multiple-units it is to supply for use on Niederrhein-Münsterland services from 2027. The site will include new and modernised buildings, 14 turnouts and 3 500 m of new track for stabling and the rapid charging of traction batteries.
Italferr has appointed Vincenzo Macello to head its Beograd-based Balkan region infrastucture business IES. He was previously Italferr’s Engineering & Operations Director.
HDR has joined the executive committee of the US High Speed Rail Association. ‘HDR is well known in the industry as a leader in planning and designing rail infrastructure. Their experience will be valuable as we deliver high-speed rail to America’, said USHSR President Andy Kunz.
Morgan Stanley & Co and Wells Fargo are serving as financial advisers to Union Pacific for the acquisition of Norfolk Southern. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is serving as legal adviser, with Covington & Burling providing legal advice on regulatory matters. BofA Securities is serving as exclusive financial adviser to NS, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal adviser and Sidley Austin providing legal advice on regulatory matters.
As sole mandated lead arranger and sole bookrunner, KfW IPEX-Bank has structured and arranged the refinancing of an existing 450m CAPEX and 100m Revolving credit facility for wagon leasing company VTG. ‘This transaction is a further sign of confidence in the stability and reliability of VTG’s business model’, said VTG CEO Dr Mani Herold.