Alstom has purchased manufacturing assets of car body shells from TMH Africa. Credit: Alstom.

French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has bought the manufacturing assets of car body shells from TMH Africa for an undisclosed sum.

The train maker had been sourcing car body shells for its TRAXX electric locomotive project from Transnet before the business went into receivership.

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Alstom retained all 105 employees from the acquired entity, which is expected to help Alstom expand its manufacturing capabilities in South Africa.

Commenting on the development, Alstom Southern Africa managing director Bernard Peille said: “We are pleased to diversify our manufacturing capability and continue to offer great value to our customers.

“Retaining the skills and knowledge to produce locomotive car body shells locally, is in line with our long-term growth strategy to introduce much-needed state-of-the-art freight solutions​ to the rest of the Southern Africa market.”

In a separate move, Alstom secured a supply contract from KiwiRail for a new train control system (TCS).

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Supported by a 15-year maintenance contract, the new order is part of the government’s $8.6bn investment in New Zealand’s national railway.

Alstom will install its IconisTCS on duplicated control centres after the completion of their construction in 2024.

This new computer control system is anticipated to offer improved automation, resiliency, and safety across the national rail network.

The new TCS will enable KiwiRail to control the rail network simultaneously from Auckland and Wellington.

KiwiRail capital projects and asset development chief operating officer David Gordon said: The project to duplicate the control centres is already well underway with construction happening in Auckland (Ellerslie) and Wellington (Upper Hutt).

“In addition, we have already moved our computing hardware to secure data centres to improve resilience.”

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