This week’s news from the global railway supply chain.
On December 30 Strukton Rail acquired Zottegem-based railway contractor E de Vuyst as part of its long-term strategy to strengthen its position on the Belgian railway and urban rail construction, renewal and maintenance market. The activities of E de Vuyst will be continued under the existing name, with Mario De Vuyst and Ilse de Vuyst remaining active.
Nordic Re-Finance has secured a multicurrency €250m debt package fully underwritten by Natixis CIB. ‘Completing this refinancing gives Nordic Re-Finance the financial flexibility to expand and modernise our fleet and accelerate our growth towards electrification’, said CFO Magnus Granlund on January 15. ‘This successful transaction confirms the attractiveness of our business model to new banking partners.’ Nordic Re-Finance was advised by Virellian Partners (financing), Watson Farley & Williams and Vinge (legal), Apex Rail and PMP (commercial), Eight Advisory (financial), Ipex (technical) and Marsh (insurance). Natixis CIB acted as sole Underwriter and sole Sustainability Coordinator, and was advised by Gibson Dunn and Snellman (legal).
The Vossloh Fastening Systems plant at Kunshan in China has produced its 150 millionth tension clamp since it went into operation in 2007. The site serving the Chinese market is part of the company’s global production network, with its processes ranging from raw material testing and heat treatment to mechanical and functional testing. ‘The production figures show how we have built up our industrial presence in various markets over the long term’, said Sven Haag, CEO of Vossloh Fastening Systems. ‘On this basis, we are continuing to work on the automation and digitalisation of our processes and on further integration of environmentally relevant aspects into our manufacturing.’
OKI and East Japan Railway have worked with Indonesian national railway PT KAI to demonstrate the use of OKI’s Zero-Energy IoT Series wireless sensors and cameras for remote slope monitoring to warn of landslides and flooding along railways. The seven-month trial showed that the technology can provide stable monitoring in high humidity and heavy rainfall, and ‘demonstrated the ZE-IoT Series’ advantages in terms of ease of installation, power efficiency and highly accurate data collection’, said Takashi Inoue, Head of the Component Products Division at OKI. ‘Natural disasters frequently occur across Indonesia, and we believe this technology can contribute to disaster resilience both in the railway sector and in other critical infrastructure fields.’
China’s State Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China have agreed to provide project promoter China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Co with a total of US$2·3bn in 35-year loans for the construction of the line, which has an estimated cost of US$4·7bn. The remaining US$2·4bn is to be contributed by China (51%), Kyrgyzstan (24·5%) and Uzbekistan (24·5%).
Specialised construction materials company Arclin has agreed to purchase Willamette Valley Co, a manufacturer and distributor of custom products and services in the wood, railway, concrete repair, transport, infrastructure and consumer products segments, including railway sleepers.
On January 22 MTR Corp priced A$2bn of its inaugural senior unsecured Green Bonds in the Australian market. It said the notes rated AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and Aa3 by Moody’s represent the largest ever Australian dollar corporate green bond and dual tranche corporate bond in the market. The notes are in a dual-tranche transaction with a five-year tranche of A$1bn and a 12-year tranche ofA$1bn, with coupon rates set at 4·886% and 5·582%. Strong demand led to oversubscription by 6·25 times. Proceeds will be used to support eligible green projects as defined in MTR’s Sustainable Finance Framework. ‘We are delighted with the very positive response from investors, including insurance companies, official institutions, pension funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, asset managers, banks, securities houses and private banks from around the world’, said Finance Director Michael Fitzgerald.
Pandrol France was awarded a Gold Medal in the latest EcoVadis sustainability ratings for the fifth consecutive year, with a score of 79/100.
Following a review, Luxembourg’s national railway CFL has decided to close travel and tourism subsidiary CFL Evasion from March 31 2026. It said the tourism sector is undergoing structural changes requiring significant investment in technology, training and infrastructure, and CFL Evasion is no longer part of its core business. The five employees affected will be offered new positions in CFL, and existing commitments will be honoured by Travel Group Luxembourg’s We love to travel and Emile Weber brands.
Start-ups and SMEs can apply for the Knorr-Bremse Circular Technology Award for the automated disassembly of rail and commercial vehicles and critical raw materials recovery. There are four prizes of €25 000, and potentially up to €150 000 for a proof-of-concept project. ‘The recovery of raw materials has enormous growth potential and opens up exciting new business areas for us’, said CEO Marc Llistosella. ‘With this award, we are taking a first step into an important future topic for Knorr-Bremse. We want to bring together the most innovative start-ups and SMEs in Europe and create further investment opportunities for green tech.’