Vossloh expands service activities in the rail milling segment

Vossloh continues to expand the service business bundled in its Lifecycle Solutions division by acquiring the rail milling business of STRABAG Rail GmbH, which comprises four milling machines and around 30 employees. The acquisition strengthens Vossloh’s rail and switch maintenance business and contributes to the Lifecycle Solutions division’s consistent expansion into a comprehensive maintenance provider.

Rail milling enables the efficient repair of deep rail defects while simultaneously reprofiling the railhead. Thereby not only noise emission is reduced and rail safety increased, but also the life of the tracks is significantly increased.

Andreas Busemann, CEO of Vossloh: “When rails have been milled and are back in perfect condition, we build on this by offering the customer our worldwide unique preventive maintenance technology, the so-called High Speed Grinding.” This allows minor damage to the track surface – unavoidable during the course of rail infrastructure use – to be eliminated before it can lead to new serious rail defects. “This is the perfect combination for rail track maintenance since it increases the availability of the tracks and creates value for our customers,” continues Andreas Busemann.

The Vossloh Group estimates that the milling business will gain importance in the future due to increased traffic and higher speeds. With this acquisition, Vossloh is positioning itself as a leading provider of rail milling in the European market. Both the purchase price and expected sales are in the low double-digit million range.

Vossloh operates its milling business through its subsidiary Alpha Rail Team in Berlin, in which the acquired STRABAG unit will be integrated. The transaction is expected to be successfully completed in 2018.

11/05/2018

Vossloh expands service activities in the rail milling segment