Stadler Establishes Service Company

Stadler Rail reinforces the growing service sector. Maintenance will be consolidated by a new subsidiary company. The current division manager, Jürg Gygax, is to become the CEO. The sites in Szolnok, Hungary (carriage body construction), Winterthur (bogie production) and Biel (cast steel) are being integrated into the new Components Division. Markus Bernsteiner, who is currently the head of the Swiss Division, will become the new division manager. These changes mean that Stadler Rail Group will consist of five divisions from 2014. Peter Spuhler is to take over the Swiss Division ad interim, which comprises the plants in Bussnang and Altenrhein.

As a result of newly acquired contracts and the purchase of the Voith subsidiary Voith Rail Services in the Netherlands, Stadler Rail has been able to further develop the service sector in recent months. The company also sees potential in this area in the future. Expanding to five divisions allows individual business areas to be managed in a more targeted way.

Seasoned executives
All divisions are led by long-standing division managers. The new Service Division, the service company that is being established with sites in Switzerland, Hungary, Algeria, Austria, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands, will be managed by Jürg Gygax, who has up until now been the head of the former Service Division. The current head of the Swiss Division, Markus Bernsteiner, is taking over the management of the new Components Division, which combines all internal suppliers. He will also be acting as head of the new Company Structure and Development staff function on a Group level. He reports to the Group CEO, Peter Spuhler, who will once again be temporarily heading up the Swiss Division with its two sites Bussnang and Altenrhein. Michael Daum will continue to oversee the German Division, and Christian Spichiger will manage the Central and Eastern Europe Division.

Stadler Rail is increasingly committed to the growing service sector. Alongside the existing contracts in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Algeria, Austria, Norway and South Tyrol, various other long-term service contracts have recently been signed in Switzerland, Poland and Sweden. The company has already achieved excellent availability levels at all its sites so far. The front runner is the Westbahn fleet in Linz, which achieved availability of 99.7% in 2012.

As well as maintaining a range of fleets, Stadler also offers various services and revisions, ranging from minor service work by mobile teams on sub-systems or vehicles to extensive repairs to vehicles severely damaged in accidents. This allows Stadler to build on its extensive company know-how in these service fields.

Source: Stadler Rail PC