Stadler Rail arrives in Australia

Stadler Rail has established a new company in Australia by founding Stadler Australia. Further, Stadler Rail has set up an office in Sydney in order to participate in tenders and develop the market there. The timing for this step is favourable: the Australian government wants to start investing a considerable amount of funds in transport infrastructure in the near future, which will also boost the development of rail transport in the country. Expansion into Australia and the Asia-Pacific region is part of Stadler Rail’s strategic repositioning.

Stadler Rail has noticed a growing demand for fast, modern and lightweight aluminium trains as well as trams and light rail vehicles in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region and therefore made the strategic decision to bring its product portfolio to this market. For this purpose, Stadler Australia has been set up, as well as an office in Sydney, which will serve as a base from which the company can enter onto the market. “Australia and the Asia-Pacific region present Stadler Rail with exceptional new business opportunities,” said Peter Jenelten, member of the Group Executive Board and Head of Marketing & Sales, today at a media conference in Sydney. Stadler Rail will participate in a number of tenders in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region in the coming months.

New federal funds

“The new Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement that the government wants to invest federal funds in the transport infrastructure for the first time ever is an important development. These funds will be used to launch new rail transport projects across the entire continent. Add to this a number of projects that were already underway prior to this announcement. That is why, for Stadler Rail, this is the perfect time to enter the Australian market,” continued Peter Jenelten.

Transport to Australia by ship

Stadler Rail intends to found a joint venture in Australia to handle the final assembly. The Swiss or European portion of the rolling stock will be transported to Australia by ship. Stadler Rail wants to use the same method to transport rolling stock for its current project in Texas. The distance to Australia by sea is much longer, but the basic principle remains the same.

Part of Stadler Rail’s repositioning

Due to the company’s primary focus on continental European markets, Stadler Rail was greatly impacted by the European debt crisis in 2010 and the subsequent currency shocks in 2012 and 2015. Half of the company’s 6000 employees are based in Switzerland, the export ratio is over 50 per cent and consolidation takes place in Swiss francs – all of these factors resulted in a loss of turnover of between CHF 200 and 300 million. The Board of Directors and the executive management responded to this situation quickly and professionally and adjusted the company’s strategy accordingly. The goal was to expand Stadler Rail’s base by tapping into new market segments such as high-speed vehicles, underground trains and locomotives. This includes launching new products and venturing into new markets. This strategy quickly proved to be successful with the conclusion of a high-speed contract with Swiss Federal Railways as well as a project with the Berlin metro. In addition, Stadler Rail also took over a locomotive plant in Valencia from Vossloh. Through the expansion of activities in the USA, including establishing a local production plant, together with Stadler Rail’s recent entry into the UK and Australian markets, the company has essentially achieved its strategic repositioning goals.

About Stadler Rail Group

Stadler Rail Group, system supplier of customer-specific solutions for rail vehicle construction headquartered in Bussnang, has locations in Switzerland (Altenrhein, Bussnang, Winterthur and Biel), in Germany (Berlin-Pankow, Berlin-Reinickendorf and Velten), in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Belarus, Algeria and in the USA. The Group has a workforce of around 6000 people. The best-known vehicle series from Stadler Rail Group are the articulated multiple-unit train GTW (600 trains sold), the Regio-Shuttle RS1 (497 trains sold), the FLIRT (1128 trains sold), the double-decker multiple-unit train KISS (216 trains sold) and the high-speed train EC250 (29 trains sold) in the railway segment, and the Variobahn (407 vehicles sold) and the Tango (159 vehicles sold) in the tram segment. The Metro is another addition for the commuter rail market (13 + 24 vehicles sold). Furthermore, Stadler Rail manufactures metre-gauge trains, passenger carriages and locomotives and is the world’s leading manufacturer of rack-and-pinion rail vehicles. Additionally, Stadler Rail Service maintains 15 vehicle fleets made up of over 300 vehicles that cover a combined annual distance of 60 million kilometres.