14.07.09
Stadler to produce MÁV FLIRTs partly in Szolnok
Stadler Szolnok Kft, Hungarian branch of Stadler Rail Group, has acquired the last licence required for the launch of its operation and started the production of aluminium car-bodies for trains today. According to the current plans, the plant will weld and paint the body shells of at least 7 FLIRTs out of the 30 trains, which Stadler is going to deliver to the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) by 2010. The local share in the production process means that the most state-of-the-art trains operating in the country will be partly Hungarian made products.
Stadler was granted the property licence last Friday, and started the welding of the first trains in Szolnok today. According to the plans, the plant will have a maximum capacity of 60 car-bodies for 2009, which will proportionally increase with the number of employees. After the completion of the investment, the plant, at full capacity, will be able to produce approximately 200 aluminium car-bodies per year, with the employment of around 200 people.
Stadler’s plant in Szolnok will also take part in the production of FLIRT trains, which were ordered by MÁV at the end of 2007. According to the schedule of delivery, the plant will be able to join the production process and weld the body shells of at least 7 FLIRTs in Szolnok out of the 30 suburban trains ordered by MÁV. With this, the new trains for MÁV will represent a significant Hungarian share in the production. Stadler started the delivery of the trains in January 2009, 2 months earlier than determined in the delivery agreement. The last trains of the new fleet will expectedly enter service in February 2010, which means that by 2010 altogether 60 FLIRT trains will be operating on the Hungarian railways.
Zoltán Dunai, managing director of Stadler Trains Magyarország Kft. said in relation with the production launch: “I believe I do not have to emphasize how delighted we are with the launch of production. When we started this investment, it was just a slight hope at the Group that this plant one day might be able to take part in the production of the MÁV FLIRTs. But today it has become a reality, and we are very proud of this success, especially in the light of these days’ rather unfavourable economic environment.”
Stadler has been present in Szolnok since 2008, when the Swiss rolling stock manufacturer laid the foundation stone of its aluminium car body production plant. The plant will be responsible for the welding and painting of aluminium car bodies for the production of FLIRT trains, which activity might be extended in the coming years with final assembly too. With the investment Stadler also brings a technology and expertise to Szolnok, which is unique in the whole CEE region.
Stadler Rail Group, the provider of customised system solutions for railed vehicle construction, has sites in Switzerland at Altenrhein, Bussnang and Winterthur, in Germany at Berlin-Pankow and Velten, in Poland at Siedlce, in Hungary at Budapest, Pusztaszabolcs and Szolnok and in Algeria at Algiers. The group employs more than 2,400 men and women. The best-known families of vehicles produced by the Stadler Rail Group are the GTW articulated power units with 453 trains sold, the Regio Shuttle RS1 with 402 trains sold, the FLIRT with 514 trains sold and the DOSTO double-deck rapid transit trains, of which 50 have been sold in the railway segment and the Variobahn, with sales of 255 vehicles and the newly developed Tango, with 90 vehicles sold in the tramway segment. Stadler also produces carriages and diesel-electric locomotives and is the world’s leading producer of rack-and-pinion railway vehicles.
For further details please contact:
Stadler Trains Magyarország Kft.
Csaba Kiss, Communications Manager
Telephone: +36 1 266 5504
csaba.kiss@stadlerrail.hu