This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.
Schweerbau has ordered a Windhoff MPV VentuS track maintenance vehicle for delivery in the first half of 2027. It will be equipped with a crane, traction battery for quiet and emission-free operation and ETCS for flexible use on the German rail network.
Croatia’s HŽ Infra has awarded Plasser & Theurer a €49·4m contract for supply of tampers, ballast cleaners and three wagons with conveyor belts, totalling nine vehicles. The order is being financed by a European Investment Bank loan and deliveries are scheduled within four years.
Korea Railroad Research Institute is working on the development of a 6G telecoms network. It is to be used for communication between trains and the control unit at a 7-24 GHz frequency, providing a 100 MHz bandwidth and over 100 Mb/s speed.
On August 27 Swiss Federal Railways confirmed that it is planning to use a 15-year operating lease model to acquire up to 40 high speed trains for international services. The selection of a lessor will be carried out in a two-stage process starting with identifying the most suitable companies. The second stage in 2026 would see the qualified lessors submit their offers. The tender for the construction and servicing of the trainsets is also scheduled for 2026.
SCI Verkehr has produced a Yellow Fleet – Global Market & Trends 2025 study providing an in-depth, regionalised analysis of the global track machine market, detailing specific national markets, with a focus on Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, Spain, Poland, the USA, China and India
ENSCO has appointed Brian Sieger as Facilities Manager at the Transportation Technology Center, which it operates under contract with the US Department of Transportation. He has previously held a range of technical and management roles overseeing complex facilities. ‘This site is full of engineering marvels, and I’m excited to be part of the team that keeps it all running’, he said. ‘Much of the equipment here challenges my curiosity, and that’s exactly what I was looking for.’
Italy’s national railway FS Group has signed three power purchase agreements with renewable energy company ERG covering the supply of 185 GWh/year from October. One contract has a 10-year term, and the others are for five years. The energy will be supplied by wind farms that are not subject to financial incentive systems.
Steve Schmotzer has joined North American Rail Solutions as Chief Development Officer, succeeding David Goretski who will remain in a senior advisory capacity. Schmotzer was previously Vice-President of Sales for the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic & Eastern Canada at The Greenbrier Companies.