Last month, the Swiss rail vehicle manufacturer Stadler (www.stadlerrail.com) held the ground-breaking ceremony for its new plant in St Margrethen, to which it will transfer its centre of expertise for double-decker multiple units (from Altenrhein).

The new site is designed to optimise production conditions and to strengthen Stadler’s competitiveness. The company says that the planned investment of 86 million Swiss francs demonstrates its commitment to Switzerland as a business location; a small part of the production process will remain in Altenrhein.

Construction work is being carried out by HRS AG and will last until early 2020, although Stadler will be able to move into the first halls at the end of 2019.

The company says it continues to face considerable pressure on margins “due to the currency situation and wage levels in Switzerland, combined with the company’s high proportion of exports”.

The plant in Altenrhein was established just under 100 years ago for aircraft construction, and it is not ideal as a centre for building double-decker multiple-unit trains.

Efficiency needs to be increased in order to maintain operations in Switzerland, and this is the aim of the new plant in St Margrethen.

The plot of land measures approximately 65,000m² and already has a rail connection, making it ideal for its new purpose.

The Altenrhein site covers over 49,000m² of production and warehouse space; currently, about 1,000 employees work on the development, manufacture and assembly of Stadler’s KISS trains, as well as trams, metre-gauge rail vehicles and passenger coaches for the Swiss and international markets.

The 250-strong engineering department provides services for the entire Stadler group; it also carries out development work for the vehicles produced on site.