This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.
The ZF India subsidiary of ZF Friedrichshafen introduced its advanced railway dampers for the Indian rail market at the International Railway Equipment Exhibition 2025. It said they are produced in Pune and tailored to meet the demanding requirements of India’s rail operations, and are a significant step in strengthening its presence in the rail market. ‘India’s rail sector is entering a transformative phase with ambitious modernisation and high speed projects’, said Akash Passey, President of Region India at ZF Group. ‘By introducing locally produced advanced dampers, we are reinforcing our commitment to the growth of this sector.’
US wagon repair, shunting, storage, logistics and field services company Cathcart Rail has rebranded as Guardian Rail. It said the new name reflects its ‘sharpened focus on safety, consistency and operational excellence, while setting the tone for a new chapter of growth, clarity and purpose.’ On October 17 CEO Scott Driggers said ‘we are doing more than changing our name. We are making a commitment to what matters most — our clients and our team members. We’re promising to safeguard our customers’ time and assets, business continuity, transparency, and peace of mind.’
Enterprise asset management specialists from Bentley Systems company Cohesive are working with suburban train operator Auckland One Rail to implement the IBM Maximo Application Suite version 9 as a single integrated asset management platform using artificial intelligence, internet of things and analytics to optimise performance and reduce operational downtime across the asset life cycle.
Hitachi Rail says it will be the first company in the transport sector to adopt the NVIDIA IGX Thor platform, which will be used in its HMAX AI-led digital asset management platform for real time ‘edge’ processing of very large volumes of data on trains or infrastructure so that only relevant information is sent back to operational control centres.
Industrial data communication hardware and software company Westermo has established a dedicated office for the Benelux region, serving the rail, energy, water and maritime sectors. It said ongoing investments in ERTMS/ETCS deployment and fleet renewals are fuelling strong demand for signalling and onboard train communication networks.
Swiss rail financing specialist Apex Rail supported Virgin’s London – Paris/Brussels open access project as financial adviser. ‘We look forward to getting these new Alstom high speed trains on track, connecting more customers from all over Europe with the UK using the cleanest mode of transport — the railways’, said Apex Managing Director Markus Fröhlich.
Roslavl Car Repair Plant has inaugurated open wagon and tank car production facilities which will expand its capacity to 7 500 vehicles/year. A loan from Russia’;s Industry Development Fund has financed 2bn roubles of the 2·7bn rouble cost.
Switzerland-based rolling stock and infrastructure insurance specialist Helvetia Insurance has joined the Rail Working Group which represents the position of the rail industry relating to the adoption and implementation of the 2007 Luxembourg Rail Protocol.
Moxa has introduced a range of EN 50155-certified products, including onboard switches, onboard computers, wireless communications and IP cameras. The company said cybersecurity is essential for meeting the requirements of FRMCS, and the products use a security-hardened networking framework built on a secure-by-design approach and with limited onboard space and power constraints in mind.