Vossloh completes acquisition of Strabag’s rail milling business

German firm Vossloh has completed its previously announced acquisition of Strabag’s rail milling business following the fulfilment of all pending closing conditions.

Strabag Rail, including its four milling machines and 30 employees, will be integrated into Vossloh’s Berlin-based subsidiary Alpha Rail Team within its Lifecycle Solutions division.

In November last year, Vossloh signed the agreement to acquire the business. The purchase price and expected sales of the transaction are in the low double-digit million range, according to the company.

Rail milling involves deep rail defect repairing and railhead re-profiling works to improve operational safety. It also helps in mitigating noise emissions, as well as increases the operating life of the rail tracks.

With growing high-speed rail traffic around the world, Vossloh estimates that rail milling business will gain further importance in the future.

Accordingly, the acquisition strengthens Vossloh’s milling portfolio and enables it to expand its service activities.

In August last year, Vossloh signed another deal to strengthen its business of manufacturing pre-stressed concrete sleepers, bearers and associated products.

Through its Australian subsidiary, Vossloh acquired Laing O’Rourke’s concrete rail sleeper manufacturing specialist Austrak.

Established in 1980, Austrak has produced around 22 million sleepers for domestic railway systems in Australia.

With more than 3,900 employees, Vossloh caters to rail technology markets across the world.

The company’s rail infrastructure business is segregated into three divisions of Core Components, Customised Modules and Lifecycle Solutions.

In 2017, the company reported sales of nearly €920m in its core business.