Bombardier Transportation has launched its new locomotive testing facility at its site in Bautzen, Saxony, Germany.
Saxony Minister President Michael Kretschmer attended the ceremony.
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The Canadian ambassador to Germany, Stéphane Dion, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Michael Güntner, Bautzen Mayor, Alexander Ahrens, and Saxony State Parliament Representative, Marko Schiemann were also in attendance.
The company has invested €16m in the new facility. Local firms from Saxony were responsible for the majority of the construction work.
Bombardier Transportation German management board chairman Michael Fohrer said: “With the digital final assembly hall opened last year and the test centre presented today, our site here in Bautzen is now equipped for the future with the latest modern innovative production and testing technologies.
“The site has a solid workload and is taking on a pioneering role at Bombardier Transportation as a competence centre for the serial production of regional and long-distance trains as well as trams and metros.”
Recently, the company’s Italian production site in Vado Ligure celebrated the manufacture of its 2,000th locomotive.
As part of the celebrations, it displayed three different locomotives from its 114-year history. These showcased three different production techniques the company has used through different eras of manufacturing.
The three locomotives were the E.554.174, produced in 1930, the E.652.172 locomotive, produced in 1994, and the most recent, the E.494.039 that was the 2,000th locomotive.
In October, Petards won a contract to supply its eyeTrain CCTV systems to Bombardier Transportation.
Bombardier Transportation and Leclanché also recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate the use of battery systems in the railway sector.
In September, Bombardier Transportation completed the production of the first driverless train for Line 14 of Shanghai Metro in China.
