50/50 joint venture agreed between Mitsui Rail Capital Europe and Siemens

Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE) and Siemens have both agreed to a joint venture for the servicing and maintenance of locomotives.

The new company, headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will be called Locomotive Workshop Rotterdam (LWR), jointly managed with both Siemens and MRCE holding a 50 per cent stake.

Founding of the firm, pending approval of antitrust authorities, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2018. The new workshop is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019.

“Siemens and MRCE have enjoyed a close supplier relationship for years. With the founding of the joint venture, we are raising our collaboration to a new level. Together, we will not only maintain the MRCE fleet, but also reliably service and guarantee the maximum availability of third-party fleets with our innovative maintenance technologies,” said Johannes Emmelheinz, CEO of Customer Services at Siemens Division Mobility. “With the new facility in the port of Rotterdam, we are expanding our existing international workshop network and can better support customers where they need us.”

The location of the new workshop, in the port of Rotterdam, will enable rail operators to optimise their long-term planning of necessary service stops for locomotives on their routes. As the biggest seaport in Europe, Rotterdam is a key logistics hub in the European rail network. The workshop will handle inspections and preventive and corrective maintenance work, which can include simple repairs and upgrades.

Junichi Kondo, CEO of Mitsui Rail Capital Europe, commented: “As a Full-Service Leasing Company we know about the importance of innovative maintenance strategies to maximise the availability of provided traction. We’ll bring in this experience into the joint venture with Siemens, creating an important service hub for European rail operators in Rotterdam, which is one of the crucial locations along the main corridors of the RailNetEurope Network, the Association for facilitating traffic on European rail infrastructure.”