Alstom, a global leader in smart and sustainable mobility, aims to boost production capacity by 40% at its Matranovak bogie frame factory in Hungary through a HUF 6 billion development program.
As part of the Matranovak 2030 Programme, the facility which joined Alstom Group in 2021 will upgrade to state-of-the-art machinery, adopt new production methods and onboard nearly 150 new staff members.
The company is carrying out the modernisation programme with support from the Government of Hungary. The support contract was signed on April 11 by Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs, and Balazs Gaspar, Managing Director of Alstom in Hungary.
As a result, the factory, which is the largest employer in Nograd county, will significantly increase its production capacity by 2025. Situated in a small village in North-East Hungary, it will become one of the most important bogie frame manufacturing facilities within Alstom in Europe. This means that bogie frames produced in Matranovak will be utilised in railway vehicles across Europe, strengthening the positive reputation of Hungary's railway component production sector.
'Thanks to the development programme, the Matranovak site has the potential to become one of the most important manufacturing sites for railway bogies in Alstom. An essential condition for increasing the current production capacity is also the expansion of the professional staff. In the past year, nearly 150 new workers - highly qualified welders and locksmiths, CNC machine operators, engineers and project managers - joined the team of the Alstom factory in Matranovak, which thus reaches 720 people. It's also crucial to emphasize that all bogie frames for railway vehicles offered to MAV, MAV-HEV, and BKV will be manufactured in this factory.' says Gaspar Balazs, Managing Director of Alstom in Hungary.
As part of the Matranovak 2030 development plan initiated in 2022, the company is upgrading its machinery. This includes acquiring new edge bending machines, enhancing the capacities in 3D measurement, modernizing the plasma cutting machine, and installing nearly 60 new rotators. Additionally, a new welding robot is being deployed. Over the recent period, alongside infrastructure and machinery upgrades, a transition to a new, cell-based production system has begun. This shift will enable specialists to manufacture bogie frames more efficiently within a reduced space requirement.
To attract and train new professionals, Alstom has established its own accredited welding and locksmith school at the factory. This initiative was launched by the company to specifically address the high demand for these skills in the job market. The development program is anticipated to conclude by the end of 2025 with the construction and delivery of a new logistics hall.
At the Matranovak factory, the production of bogie frames for metro and railway assemblies began four decades ago. The quality of these frames is vital for railway safety, as they support the axles, springs, and brakes of trains. To ensure the highest reliability, the site in Matranovak employs complex, high-level combined welding techniques. Today, the products manufactured in Matranovak are distributed throughout Europe and are used in various types of trains, including traditional and high-speed trains, suburban trains, locomotives, and double-decker railcars.
Alstom is a key player in the Hungarian railway sector and has been operating in Hungary for over 20 years. It is one of the country's major suppliers of metro trains, having manufactured 50 percent of Budapest's metro trains for metro lines 2 and 4. Additionally, Alstom introduced the first driverless metros in Central and Eastern Europe on the latter line. Furthermore, 27 Traxx locomotives are currently in operation in Hungary. The company has also successfully modernized MAV-Start's 59 electric passenger trains with the latest ETCS L2 train control system. This upgrade has significantly enhanced safety and efficiency, allowing these trains to operate more effectively on Hungarian railway lines.
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