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Alstom is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional and urban trains along with trams. The company and its name (originally spelled Alsthom) was formed by a merger between the electric engineering division of Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (Als) and Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (thom) in 1928. Significant acquisitions later included the Constructions Électriques de France (1932), shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (1976), and parts of ACEC (late-1980s). A merger with parts of the British General Electric Company formed GEC Alsthom in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, the company expanded its holdings in the rail sector, acquiring German rolling stock manufacturer Linke-Hofmann-Busch and Italian rail signaling specialist Sasib Railways. In 1998, GEC Alsthom was listed on the Paris St

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Managing Systemic Innovations in Rail Systems: The case of ERTMS technologies

Anne Curchod, Guillaume De Tilière, Daniel Emery

Interoperability has become a keyword in the European Transport Policy, with the strong objective to improve transportation services. In the rail sector, this trend is embodied in technological innovations: A deep change in the communication and signalling system is taking place with the new ERTMS projects (European Rail Traffic Management System). This new technology will constitute in the future an important improvement of performances of the rail transportation system, in term of interoperability between railways networks, in term of capacity and in term of traffic management. Such a systemic innovation is however a big challenge: It impacts equipment of infrastructures, rolling-stock, control centres as well as operating rules. Introducing such changes on a complex rail network with high traffic density is not an easy task: How implementing disruptive technologies in an incremental manner? After a short presentation of ERTMS and its expected benefits, this paper examines the stakes of such an innovation through a case study approach, based on the recent experience of SBB and of the Industry (Swiss experience and international overview).

2003

Can regional railway become emission-free with recently announced vehicles? - A case study of Bavaria

Michel Bierlaire, Florian Mueller, Nikola Obrenovic

Significant shares of regional passenger railway still rely on pollutive diesel vehicles. Alstom, Bombardier, Siemens, and Stadler have reacted and recently announced Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (BEVs and FCEVs). In this paper, we analyze to what extent these new vehicles can replace diesel technology on a large variety of regional railway lines in Bavaria, Germany. Our approach is based on two databases that we build: One for the announced emission-free vehicles and one for existing lines. We compare the lines and vehicles in terms of range, axle load, velocity, and specific power. The study reveals that 72 out of the 73 lines can be operated with an emission-free vehicle. The main driver for BEVs is their range and maximum velocity. Depending on these characteristics, they can operate between 53% and 82% of all lines. The main driver for FCEVs is their specific power and maximum velocity. One vehicle, the Alstom iLint, can only operate 18% of all lines due to its limited performance. The Siemens Mireo Plus H series has higher performance and can operate 97% of the lines. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, Vol 20 No 4 (2020)

2020

Developing and deploying innovative technologies in a liberalized European railway system

Guillaume De Tilière, Marc Laperrouza

In a network industry like railways, major systemic innovations and new technological trajectories are tightly connected to national institutional frameworks and policies. The major transformation occurring in Europe brought by the liberalization and harmonization of railways since a decade provides a fertile ground to study the link between innovation and institutions. This article aims at providing a structured framework to look at the innovation process in the railway sector. It focuses on institutional and innovation models before and after the railway sector’s reorganization. The article is based on the case study of the European Train Management System (ERTMS), whose development spans over a period of 15 years and thus offers a very good foundation to look at the evolution of innovation models. The various models that emerged underline the deep changes that occurred within the rail sector as well as their impacts. While they allow drawing some lessons on how to better manage the development and deployment of key innovative technologies in the railway sector, they also raise questions on how institutions shall adapt in order to cope with fundamental technological transformations.

2009

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