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Vossloh
Acquisition of Novosibirsk, Russia's Leading Manufacturer of Points and Crossings
On 21 May 2013, the joint venture formed by Vossloh Cogifer and its Russian partner SP-Technology won a tender for the privatisation of the Novosibirsk Switch Plant. With over 10,000 units manufactured each year, and a market share of more than 80%, Novosibirsk is Russia's largest manufacturer of points and crossings.
"Our pledge to improve the service life of Russia's points and crossings and to reduce maintenance costs is the decisive factor that enabled us to win this privatisation tender," says Xavier Quemener, Business Development Director of Vossloh Cogifer. "We are going to look at many various aspects, e.g.the rail/wheel interfaces design, component improvements through the use of, for example, manganese monobloc frogs and we even intend to optimise the plant's manufacturing processes.”
Founded in 1942, Novosibirsk reported revenues of €130 million in 2012. The plant employs more than 200 people and manufactures Russia's entire supply of points and crossings at its foundries and forge.
Novosibirsk primarily manufactures points and crossings for conventional passenger and freight railways. Vossloh Cogifer and Novosibirsk's local teams also assess various opportunities for expanding its product range for example by very-high speed (above 250 km/h) points and crossings; the development of special points and crossings for heavy loads; points and crossings for urban transport networks and tramway lines in particular; and Easyswitch in-sleeper actuators.
