Member Article

Austrian-Swiss rail company expands in Doncaster as it pushes for HS2 contracts

Swiss and Austrian rail tech company Rhomberg Sersa is expanding its operations in Doncaster with a recruitment drive only months after moving its UK base to Armthorpe.

The formation of Amey Sersa saw the joint venture land a major £550 million contract with Network Rail to deliver switches and crossing renewals across the north of England and Scotland over the next ten years.

This new contract together with substantial growth in its projects division is seeing Amey Sersa recruiting to boost its existing team of 30 in the Doncaster area. This is in addition to the recruitment drive by Rhomberg Sersa.

Rhomberg Sersa is pushing to deliver services for the HS2 project.

Carl Garrud, managing director of Rhomberg Sersa, said: “A strategic decision has been made to maintain our depot in Doncaster to deliver the switches and crossings contract and employ a number of new staff to support the increasing workload.

“We have identified new positions at various levels across a range of disciplines such as technical, supervisory and clerical and a number of motivated and skilled applicants are coming forward.”

“Rhomberg Sersa are fully supportive of the HS2 Rail College and look forward to being involved with its creation and influencing the next generation of rail engineers, Doncaster will remain a centre of excellence in rail engineering for many years to come.”

Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, commenting on her recent visit to the official opening of Rhomberg Sersa’s UK base, said: “There is massive investment taking place in the UK’s rail network and I welcome the news that one of the leaders in this field in Rhomberg Sersa is expanding its operations in Doncaster.

“Doncaster has one of the biggest clusters of specialist rail and engineering companies in the UK and with the national High Speed Rail College set to open its doors in 2017 the town continues to establish itself as the home of rail.”

Dan Fell, deputy chief executive officer at Doncaster Chamber, said: “Doncaster has a strong rail engineering base that is going from strength to strength. Continued investment in Doncaster by firms such as Rhomberg Sersa is indicative of that growth and testimony to the confidence that leading rail firms clearly have in Doncaster as a place to do business.”

The successful Centre for Rail Engineering and Technical Expertise (CREATE) bid for the National High Speed Rail College was coordinated by Doncaster Council and supported by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .