The Goldschmidt Thermit Group based in Leipzig, Germany is expanding in Scandinavia. The global leader for continuous joint welding and the maintenance and repair of rail systems has acquired SRS Sjölanders based in Osby, Sweden. The company is a global technology leader in the field of vehicles designed to run on rails and the road.
SRS Sjölanders is specialised in the manufacture of road-rail vehicles suitable for the installation, inspection and maintenance of overhead lines and the inspection of bridges and tunnels as well as road-rail heavy duty cranes and road-rail flash butt-welding machines.
"The whole of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group will benefit from the special expertise of SRS Sjölanders in the development and production of road-rail vehicles, in particular the division for road-rail grinding machines, but also in our core area of rail welding. The acquisition represents an important strategic addition to our product range for the maintenance of rail systems worldwide," explains Dr. Hans-Jürgen Mundinger, CEO of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group.
SRS Sjölanders can look back on more than a century of company history and has extensive experience in the railway industry. The core of the technical developments at SRS Sjölanders is the patented road-rail system with a hydrostatic drive where there is no contact between the normal rubber wheels of the chassis and the track wheels. When the vehicle runs on rails it rests completely on the track wheels.
The design enables excellent performance in terms of safety, traction, tracking stability, brake power, speed and travel comfort. More than 500 vehicles around the world are equipped with the patented road-rail system which enables transfer over to the railway track in less than two minutes.
"We see ourselves as a high-tech supplier to the railway industry. Together with the Goldschmidt Thermit Group we can expand our global customer base and open up new markets for our products and services", emphasises Peter Sundström, Managing Director of SRS Sjölanders. In addition to road-rail vehicles, SRS Sjölanders offers its customers an extensive range of maintenance services.
"The global trend towards more intensive use of railway networks is leading to ever shorter time slots available for maintenance," says Stefan Damm, head of special projects at the Goldschmidt Thermit Group. "The expertise of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group and SRS Sjölanders for the integration of more and more technology in road-rail vehicles will enable the efficient exploitation of track possession periods."