After ten months of construction, RAIL.ONE has commenced series production and granted access to the production site during its inauguration.
The company will supply up to 600,000 concrete sleepers per year from its new plant in future.
With numerous signatures on the symbolic first series-produced B 70 sleeper from Aschaffenburg, RAIL.ONE, a group of companies based in Neumarkt, commenced operation of its new concrete sleeper plant in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria.
In the presence of representatives from politics and business, a large number of neighbours and the staff from the new location, PCM RAIL.ONE AG chief executive officer Jochen Riepl officially opened the plant: “Our new location is a very important addition to our other production facilities in Germany and is therefore important for the long-term success of our entire Group.
“We are still able to support our most important customer, Deutsche Bahn, with four locations. Upholding our tradition and our reputation, we will reliably supply high-quality products for new construction, expansion and maintenance of the German rail network from this plant as well.”
Mr Riepl is also delighted about the attendance of the Group’s Supervisory Board, which travelled all the way from India to celebrate the inauguration together with the invited guests.
In his speech, partner and chairman of the supervisory board Kamal Kumar Mittal agreed with his sentiments: “Today we are expanding our family with the most modern sleeper production plant and that fills me with pride. That we have come so far is another huge achievement by our team here in Germany. I congratulate you all.”
After almost three years of planning and construction, RAIL.ONE’s latest concrete sleeper plant marks an important milestone in the corporate strategy. With its large production capacity, a storage capacity of 120,000 sleepers and its central location, the site offers many advantages at once.
The guests at the opening celebration gained an impression of the production process and the plant engineering during a tour on site.
In addition to the B 70 sleepers that are widely-used in Germany, the plant also produces numerous other types of main-track sleepers and products for German and European urban transit and mainline rail traffic.
It supplements the three other German locations in Coswig, Kirchmöser and Neumarkt, each of which have their own specific production processes and product portfolios. Verena Moosburger, managing director of RAIL.ONE GmbH responsible for the German market, believes these plants also represent “key locations, which account for RAIL.ONE’s flexibility and speed and complete the strategic positioning in the German market.”
Facts and figures on the Aschaffenburg plant:
- Location: Limesstrasse 17, 63741 Aschaffenburg (Germany)
- 35,000m² area
- Production capacity: 600,000 concrete sleepers per year (up to 3,500 sleepers per day in a three-shift operation)
- Storage capacity for 120,000 sleepers
- Production processes: carousel late demoulding system with extensive automation technology
- Products primarily for the German railway network
- Almost 50 jobs in production and administration
- Two unit train loading sidings (20-22 wagons per train)