Siemens

Siemens invests in Wi-Tronix

Siemens has made a “significant strategic equity investment” in Wi-Tronix, a supplier of remote monitoring, video analytics, and predictive diagnostic systems for rail rolling stock and infrastructure and other industrial markets. The investment is equivalent to a minority interest in Wi-Tronix, which will continue to conduct business as a standalone, founder-led company out of its Bolingbrook, Ill., headquarters. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Siemens and Alstom announce “merger of equals”

It’s official: Siemens AG and Alstom SA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding “granting exclusivity to combine mobility businesses in a merger of equals.” The combination is largely viewed as a move to remain competitive in a global market in which Chinese rolling stock manufacturers have gained considerable market share. Based on how the merged company, “Siemens Alstom,” will be structured and named, Siemens is the lead company, with 6 of 11 board members.

Siemens+Alstom+Bombardier?

Germany’s Siemens AG and France’s Alstom SA are discussing a merger to create a European rail transportation manufacturing conglomerate to counter growing competition from China, according to a report in the Sept. 23, 2017 Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Siemens continues to engage in talks with Canada’s Bombardier, Inc. about merging their railway businesses.

Toronto’s transit travails take a tepid turn

In the wake of Bombardier Transportation’s ongoing problems with light rail vehicles it’s building for various Ontario LRT projects, the purported combination of the railway businesses of Siemens and Bombardier appears to have taken on an interesting twist. This folllows the filing of an official protest letter by Siemens Canada with Ontario’s Transportation Minister over Metrolinx’s awarding of a single-source LRV contract to Alstom.

Brightline going biodiesel

The Siemens-built, Cummins QSK-95-powered Charger diesel-electric locomotives hauling All Aboard Florida’s Brightline higher-speed express passenger trains connecting West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami along the Florida East Coast Railway main line will be fueled with blended biodiesel under a two-year contract with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL).