Railway & Mobility

The railway industry has been undergoing a massive transformation in recent years and has shown a strong resilience during the Covid-19 crisis, demonstrating its significance. As the world continues to move rapidly towards digitisation, large-scale mobility solutions are being reinvented to meet the growing demand for efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation. The mobility sector is no exception, and is undergoing a transformation as new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, are making their way into the market. 

Railway modernisation for a greener future: enhancing capacity and reducing emissions

The rise of digital technology and the emergence of new mobility paradigms are revolutionising the way people move in the 21st century. This transformation is exemplified by the increased efficiency, interoperability, and regularity of rail networks in developing countries.. Increasing urbanisation, combined with the desire to reduce CO2 emissions, is leading public players and major companies to invest massively in rail transport, focus on renewable energy sources, reduce carbon emissions, and promote eco-friendly practices. As for railway operators, they are making increasing the capacity of existing lines their priority by modernising the signalling systems (CBTC, ERTMS, etc.). At the same time, manufacturers are experimenting with different solutions (batteries, hydrogen and, hybrid material) to replace diesel engines and thus decarbonise non-electrified lines. 

ALTEN, your strong engineering partner to support you

ALTEN has a partnership history of over 30 years with the railway industry’s leading stakeholders. In this quest for competitiveness & quality, ALTEN, as major engineering supplier of the sector, has a key role to play together with infrastructure managers, transport authorities, transport operators & industrial suppliers of railway systems. ALTEN is proactive in developing the rail industry & is heavily involved in innovative projects across four different domains: rolling stock, signalling systems, infrastructure, customer experience & digital.  

ALTEN Group in the Railway sector

100M €

2022 turnover

1,500

consultants

+20

countries

4

domains of expertise in Railway: Rolling-stock, Signalling, Infrastructure, Services & IT

Our publications

Innovating for greener mobility & a transport industry 4.0

Digital transformation is opening up new horizons for rethinking mobility, making it more sustainable and facilitating travel. To support these changes, ALTEN draws on the skills of its historic transport businesses to carry out increasingly innovative research projects and design the transport systems of the future.

ALTEN’s areas of expertise covered by ALTEN 

Rolling stock
  • Interiors & bodyshell 
  • Train architecture & subsystems – TCMS 
  • Power modules & braking systems 
  • Tests, validation & commissioning 
  • Manufacturing, supply chain & quality 
  • Train maintenance & overhaul 
Signalling/Systems (ERTMS, CBTC, etc.)
  • On board units 
  • Human Machine Interface 
  • Trackside 
  • Supervision 
  • Interlocking 
Infrastructure
  • Telecoms & low voltage 
  • Civil engineering & tracks 
  • Power & electrification 
  • Project engineering 
  • Digital, IoT 
Services & IT
  • Telecoms (4G, 5G) 
  • Mobile application & embedded services 
  • Real time passenger information systems 
  • Ticketing & retail 
  • Data analysis & governance  
  • Cloud & Infrastructure 

Our Success Stories

To transport more people during peak times, the operator of a large international metropole entrusted our industrial customer with the automation of the busiest metro line in the network. ALTEN is helping to develop the key element: the CBTC signalling system. 

The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) must cover 50% of the European strategic network by 2023. Our customer has won several contracts within the framework of this major project and is supported by ALTEN with regard to the ramp-up of its ERTMS centre of excellence in Belgium. 

ALTEN is assisting a major European rail operator (over 15,000 km of lines in operation) with the design of new electrified lines to anticipate the increase in traffic and development of the rolling stock. Our engineering teams are working, in particular, on the electrical sizing, design (studies, project management, etc.) and operational assistance and maintenance of fixed electric traction installations. 

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