On the right track Greenbrier

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Greenbrier, US-based international supplier of equipment and services to global freight transport markets, has not only achieved significant growth in its core North American market, but has successfully ramped up its European manufacturing capability. Romana Moares reports.

Greenbrier experienced another successful year in 2021, with orders of 2,900 new railcars valued at $345 million. Its highquality backlog and manufacturing flexibility demonstrates Greenbrier’s leadership in core markets.

The new railcar orders continue to reflect a broad range of railcar types including gondolas, tanks, covered hoppers and automobilecarrying units, indicative of broader industry trends that reveal a resurgent North American freight railcar market.

William A. Furman, Chairman and CEO said: “Railcar orders received during the first two months of the second fiscal quarter demonstrate Greenbrier’s strength in our core North American rail business.

“Almost all the orders originated from North America, where we have scaled our flexible manufacturing footprint to address the increasing levels of demand that we began preparing for months ago. Order activity for Greenbrier and industry-wide validates our recent investments in working capital to support the early stage of an extended recovery cycle for new railcar demand.”

European performance

On the other side of the Atlantic, Greenbrier has also achieved remarkable progress. Freightliner UK, the British subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., has received 40 new flat wagons of the FFA-G type from the consortium of Wabtec Axiom Rail and Greenbrier Europe.

The FFA-G series wagons were developed as a result of cooperation over more than two years between Freightliner, Wabtec and Greenbrier. This is the first batch of a 230-unit order placed by the British rail freight operator. The flat wagons were manufactured in Poland, specifically at the Wagony Świdnica plant, which is a part of the Greenbrier Companies, and the largest exporter of rolling stock in Poland.

The Polish-Romanian consortium Wagony Świdnica – Astra Rail PKP has been busily working on another large contract: the Polish logistics operator Cargo S.A. has recently received the first batch of intermodal platforms intended for the international transport of containers and will pick up 220 more units this and next year.

Świdnica and Astra Rail wagons are implementing this contract as part of the “Multi-system locomotives and wagons for intermodal transport” project, which is co-financed by EU funds from the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment.

Solid operational base

Greenbrier, headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading international supplier of equipment and services to global freight transport markets. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures, Greenbrier designs, builds and markets freight railcars and marine barges in North America, Europe and Brazil. The company is a major provider of freight railcar wheel services, parts, maintenance and retrofitting services both in North America and in Europe.

The US company’s European operation was established in 2017 when Greenbrier’s European business in Świdnica, Poland, and Astra Rail’s manufacturing operations in Arad, Romania, were brought together to form an end-to-end freight railcar manufacturing, engineering and repair business, serving customers across Europe and in the nations of the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council).

Greenbrier Europe has now six high-performance production sites for freight wagons and bogies in Romania and Poland. The most recent addition (under Astra Rail) is the Caracal factory, with its products destined for export to the CIS countries, France, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. With a covered area of 114,000 square metres, Astra Rail’s Caracal factory is one of the largest freight wagon manufacturing facilities in the world.

In 2018 Greenbrier Europe significantly extended its reach across the continent with the acquisition of a majority interest in the Turkish railcar builder Rayvag. The Turkish company now operates as an

integral part of Greenbrier Europe, together with Poland’s Wagony Świdnica and Romania’s Astra Rail. As well as manufacturing railcars, Rayvag also provides maintenance services, and manufactures bogies and spare parts for railcars in the region.

The green way

Continuously enhancing quality is one of Greenbrier Europe’s most important strategic goals. To achieve this objective, the company draws on its own expert department dedicated exclusively to quality assurance. The Greenbrier Europe Quality Management System has been certified in accordance with ISO 9001:2015, EN 14025, EN ISO 3834-2 and EN 15085. This is a field where Greenbrier Europe works together with TÜV (the German Technical Inspectorate).

The management is focused on promoting the sustainable and long-term development of the Group in its evolution into a technologically and financially strong market leader in Europe’s rail industry. Its long-term thinking takes precedence over short-term profit-driven considerations.

Prospects look good in Europe, where rail is increasingly seen as a ‘green’ transport mode. This is reflected in the European Commission’s strategy for sustainable and smart mobility which sets an objective to double rail freight traffic by 2050.

Given the current market climate, Greenbrier Europe can expect increased demand, and building on its solid track record, the Group will be an active participant in the move towards the EU’s longer term sustainability objectives. n