voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak LLC Acquires Unitrac Railroad Materials’ Assets

Courtesy of voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The acquisition of Unitrac Railroad Materials’ assets allows voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak to enhance its special trackwork manufacturing.

In the news release, voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak says this enhanced capacity allows it to better support its customers by “offering fully integrated onshore systems solutions for their networks from specialty trackwork, concrete turnout ties, concrete crossties, fastening, and signaling systems.”

Unitrac Railroad Materials (a Wabtec company) has been a provider of special trackwork products for freight, transit, and industrial markets for 35 years. Voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak was established in 1981 and is a “market leader in engineering and manufacturing special trackwork.” With a new location, equipment, and trained workforce, the release states the asset acquisition will accelerate the company’s capacity growth whilst also accelerating “organic investments in preparation for increasing industry demand.”

Voestalpine says the acquisition signals its dedication to providing the North American railroad industry with “the highest quality onshore systems solutions.” This will also continue its expansion in supporting railway mobility for its sustainability.

“voestalpine Railway Systems

voestalpine Railway Systems, a subsidiary of the leading steel and technology group voestalpine, is the world’s leading supplier of complete railroad infrastructure systems. The competence portfolio includes premium rails, high-tech switches, fasteners, and sleepers as well as fully digital monitoring of railroad lines and trains during operation. The Business Unit Railway Systems, which is part of the Metal Engineering Division of the voestalpine Group, employs around 7,200 people at 70 production and sales locations on five continents. Revenue in the past financial year amounted to over EUR 2.0 billion.

“Metal Engineering Division

The voestalpine Group’s Metal Engineering Division is the global market leader for railroad infrastructure systems and signaling technology with its Railway Systems business unit. With its Industrial Systems segment, the division is also the European market leader for quality wire and a global provider of complete welding solutions. Seamless tubes are also supplied all over the world from the Kindberg site in Austria. Customers come from the railroad infrastructure, energy, mechanical engineering, automotive and construction industries as well as the renewable energy sector. As part of greentec steel, the Metal Engineering Division is already working and researching intensively on various innovative, climate-friendly technologies and production processes. In the 2023/24 financial year, the division generated revenue of around EUR 4.3 billion with its Railway Systems and Industrial Systems business units, 46% of which was generated outside Europe. The division thus generated an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 606 million and employed around 14,700 people worldwide.

“The voestalpine Group

voestalpine is a leading global steel and technology group with combined materials and processing expertise. The globally active group of companies has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. The voestalpine Group has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its premium product and system solutions, it is one of the leading partners to the automotive and household appliance industries as well as the aerospace and energy industries and is also the global market leader in railroad infrastructure systems, tool steel and special sections. voestalpine is committed to global climate targets and is pursuing a clear plan to transform steel production with greentec steel. In the business year 2023/24, the Group generated revenue of EUR 16.7 billion, an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.7 billion and employed around 51,600 people worldwide.”