Alstom has launched an aluminum welding line at its rolling stock site in Wroclaw, replacing heavier and more difficult-to-machine steel with lighter and more efficient aluminum.
The opening is part of a EUR 10 million investment, including new equipment and machinery, adaptation of the plant’s infrastructure to the new technology, and employee training. The investment will enable the plant in Wroclaw to acquire new projects and produce aluminum boxes for regional trains for European markets.
At the same time, thanks to this investment, the competencies of the plant’s employees from various departments will be developed. Implementation of new technology in Wroclaw is actively supported by the Chorzow-based Alstom Konstal, which has been an expert in aluminum welding for many years and successfully produces complete vehicles for foreign carriers such as the Pop regional trains for Trenitalia or ICNG trains for the Netherlands.
Aluminum is increasingly used in rail, extending the life of railcars to about 40 years. The rail industry is increasingly moving away from the use of steel and replacing it with aluminum as the primary material for trains. This is a consequence of the innovations transfer from the aerospace industry, where the pressure to develop low-weight materials is great, and the adaptation of them by the rail industry. Aluminum has high formability – it can be easily machined into any shape, and excess material is fully recyclable. This shortens the production cycle of trains.
“Aluminum has many advantages over stainless steel in train construction. It guarantees a lower weight of trains, which in turn contributes to using less energy to power the train and thus lower CO2 emissions. At the same time, the reduced weight of the carriage means that train speeds can be higher even on existing rail tracks,” said Slawomir Cyza, President and Managing Director of Alstom in Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic States.
The new aluminum welding line will create at least 100 new jobs at Alstom’s Wroclaw plant.
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