Bombardier Transportation acquires stake in Russian Railways subsidiary

Following the signing of a share purchase agreement in Moscow on December 13, 2010, Bombardier has confirmed that BT Signaling B.V. purchased a stake in the signalling equipment manufacturer United Electrical Engineering Plants, known as Elteza. BT Signaling B.V. purchased a 25 per cent stake in Elteza, a subsidiary of Russian Railways (RZD). Subject to further approval, BT Signaling B.V. could increase its stake to up to 50 per cent. RZD will remain the majority shareholder.

Elteza is Russia’s largest signalling equipment producer with more than 3,000 employees across seven manufacturing sites. The company focuses on the design, development and production of rail signalling equipment and automatic and remote train control systems which have been delivered in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Baltic states. The new partnership will be one of the first successful examples of the privatisation of a Russian Railways’ subsidiary and part of the modernization strategy of RZD.

Already strong partners in the signalling sector, Bombardier and RZD have a well established engineering joint venture, Bombardier Transportation (Signal) Ltd., in operation in Moscow since 1996. This partnership has worked in close cooperation with Elteza to equip over 100 Russian stations with BOMBARDIER EBI Lock 950 computer-based interlocking (CBI) technology. This new agreement leads to the creation of an Elteza department dedicated to new technologies and focusing on the manufacture of products including EBI Lock 950 as well as the latest generation of wayside products.

Bombardier Transportation’s Rail Control Solutions portfolio covers the complete range of BOMBARDIER CITYFLO mass transit solutions, from manual to fully automatic systems, as well as communication-based systems. It also provides BOMBARDIER INTERFLO mainline solutions, from conventional systems to ERTMS level 2 systems. Bombardier solutions encompass a broad portfolio of wayside and onboard products.