Railway supply industry news round-up

This week’s global railway supply chain news from Railway Gazette International.

At InnoTrans, IT services provider FPT and German railway software company Zedas signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate by combining Zedas’s expertise in rail asset and maintenance management, infrastructure, and logistics with FPT’s capabilities in software engineering, AI, data, IoT, and global delivery. ‘This partnership with Zedas strengthens FPT’s ability to bring its AI-first approach into the rail sector, using platforms such as FleziPT to advance predictive asset management, improve maintenance efficiency, and support more intelligent, data-driven railway systems’, said Dzung Tran, FPT Software SVP and FPT Europe CEO.

Law firm Ashurst Perkins Coie advised InfraRed Capital Partners on the acquisition of Hector Rail via managed funds. ‘This transaction underscores the continued attractiveness of high-quality rail logistics businesses in the Scandinavian market’, said lead partner Jacob Gold.

On September 22 Moody’s reaffirmed Eurofima’s long-term issuer rating of Aa2 with a stable outlook. Eurofima said the ratings affirmation reflects a very strong solvency position, combining very robust capital adequacy and a pristine track record of asset performance,, a robust liquidity and funding profile, marked by strong market access and the very high ability of shareholders to support.

EBRD is to consider the provision of a sovereign-guaranteed loan of up to €30m to enable Montenegro’s passenger train operator ZPCG to finance the purchase of up to 10 modern sleeping cars to replace its ageing fleet and enhance the quality and standard of services.

Vossloh Switch Systems and Estenad Industries Factory signed a MoU at InnoTrans to explore the localisation of railway switches and crossings production in Saudi Arabia to support the growing needs of the GCC region. EIF said the agreement was made possible with the support of Saudi Railway Co and the Public Investment Fund.

Quattron and Nafat Engineering have signed a MoU expressing their intention to establish a joint venture in Israel to build on their complementary experience in rail consultancy and engineering, with a focus on technical consultancy, operational consultancy and project management for mainline, metro and light rail projects.

Port Polska and Czech infrastructure manager SŽ signed a MoU at InnoTrans setting out a framework for co-operation to develop rail connections between Poland and the Czech Republic, primarily on the preparation of the cross-border Katowice – Ostrava rail link. Both sides intend to co-ordinate a future application for Connecting Europe Facility funding. ‘This is a project whose significance extends far beyond the border section itself. We want to connect the Polish and Czech high speed rail networks and create new opportunities for travel across Central Europe’, said Piotr Rachwalski, Port Polska Board Member responsible for rail. The MoU also provides for the exchange of experience in areas including technical standards, interoperability, ERTMS, rail market regulation, traffic modelling and the operation of open-access services. There is also scope for further discussions on a Wrocław – Praha rail connection, but Port Polska said ’at present, the Czech side is focusing on other priorities’.

At InnoTrans, Eviden and AllWayTon Technology announced a partnership to supply a triple-mode FRMCS/5G P/GSM-R smartphone and support the transition from GSM-R to FRMCS. ‘Railway organisations need to introduce FRMCS progressively while maintaining reliable access to their existing GSM-R communications’, said Christian Heinrich, head of critical national infrastructure at Eviden. ’Combining AllWayTon’s triple-mode smartphone with Eviden’s MCX technology will give users a practical way to access both environments through a single device during this critical transition phase.’

Qatar Railways Co has signed a strategic partnership agreement giving it a flexible way to draw on DB E&C specialists for specific assignments as its needs evolve. DB E&C said its teams will provide expertise in fields including railway systems, operations, safety, digitalisation and power supply to support feasibility studies, the development of new rail services and network extensions, and more.