This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.
Wagon supplier Rail First has inaugurated a A$2·4m upgraded manufacturing engineering building at the Islington Workshops in South Australia. It said the facility first established in 1883 has been ‘transformed into a modern, best-in-class manufacturing line’, doubling wagon production from 50 to 100 per year, with the capacity to scale to 200, all fully manufactured and assembled in Australia using Australian steel. It has created 15 new jobs, including eight apprenticeships.
Israel Railways has deployed a train-mounted mapping system developed by Exodigo to create high-resolution multi-dimensional visual models providing accurate information about underground assets along a rail corridor. This ‘enables railways to efficiently and systematically map all existing rail assets and introduce new capabilities for digital asset management in a dynamic environment – allowing the integration of AI-powered intelligence into infrastructure-related decision-making processes to maximise transportation services for the public’, said Exodigo CEO Jeremy Suard.
IVU Traffic Technologies reports that its revenue increased 12% year-on-year to €149·7m in 2025, and EBIT was up 10·5% at €18·6m. The Berlin-based public transport IT specialist said rail and bus companies are increasingly investing in high-performance IT to control their processes, utilise resources efficiently and get passengers to their destinations reliably.
Germany’s Lippe district authority has assumed patronage of the Monocab project to develop autonomous vehicles accommodating four to six passengers which can balance on a single rail and can pass in opposite directions. Testing on the Begatalbahn is planned for 2027, subject to funding. ‘We are currently working on establishing reliable data on transport capacity, market potential, and the regulatory framework for approval’, said Thorsten Försterling. ‘The goal is to attract investors and prepare the transition from a research project to a market-ready mobility system.’
The Transit Rail Association for Canadian Contractors, Maintainers, Operators and Standards (TRACCS) has appointed Kevin Brown, CEO of Cobalt Safety, as Chief Safety Officer, and Karen Stintz as Special Advisor to Transit Rail Policy.
OMK Group has acquired a 70% stake in Novaya Vagonoremontnaya Kompaniya which will be merged with its rolling stock repair company OMK Stalnoy Put.
Ensco has appointed Gregory T Grissom, as Division Manager, Rail Inspection & Asset Management Services. Prior to joining Ensco, he was President of Loram Technologies. ‘Greg brings a quarter century of industry expertise and a proven record of advancing rail inspection technologies and infrastructure monitoring’, said Jackie Van der Westhuizen, Vice-President of Ensco’s Surface Transportation Group.