Rail supplier news from Alstom, Keolis and Princeton Consultants

Alstom has agreed to acquire Shunter in the Netherlands. Based in Rotterdam, Shunter offers management and maintenance services for freight and passenger railroad rolling stock, as well as onboard signaling solutions. The acquisition will reinforce Alstom's position in the Benelux maintenance market by combining both companies' capabilities, solutions and products to the benefit of railway operators. The transaction is expected to be finalized in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Alstom has been selected to supply 34 Coradia Stream High Capacity double-decker EMU trains to Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) in Germany. The contract, valued at 760 million euros, includes a 30-year maintenance agreement.

RailPulse has selected Princeton Consultants Inc. to design its technology platform. RailPulse was created last year by Norfolk Southern Railway, GATX Corp., Genesee & Wyoming Inc., TrinityRail and Watco Cos. LLC to facilitate and accelerate the adoption of telematics across the North American rail-car fleet. Collectively, RailPulse partners own nearly 20% of the rail-car fleet. The full rollout of the RailPulse platform is expected by 2022's end.

Keolis recorded 2020 revenue of 6.1 billion euros, down 7.5% compared with 2019 revenue. The company cited the pandemic for the decrease. The group's operational profit amounted to 532 million euros, down 24%, due to the impact of the health crisis and the number of passengers in the networks. As a result, the company's recurring net profit for the year was a loss of 101 million euros, compared with 47 million euros in 2019. International activity was "very strong" in 2020, in particular with the award of the group's first commuter-rail contract in Australia, and the extension of the Boston commuter-rail contract in the United States, Keolis officials said in a press release.