US-based railcar manufacturer Greenbrier is set to acquire a 68% stake in Rayvag Vagon Sanayi ve Ticaret (Rayvag), a Turkish manufacturer of railcars (plus bogies and spare parts) based in Adana, which will be part of its European subsidiary, Greenbrier-AstraRail. This is the latest acquistion for Greenbrier which acquired Poland’s Wagony Swidnica in 1998 and Romania’s AstraRail in 2017.

Rayvag was founded in 2007 by Asim Suzen, who will continue to as managing director. He said: ‘Rayvag is committed to growth but could not achieve scale without this investment by Greenbrier. Greenbrier-AstraRail's expertise in designing freight wagons that meet European rail standards, as well as its world-class manufacturing systems and procurement practices, will enable Rayvag to respond to the rapidly growing demands of Turkey’s freight rail industry.”

The freight transport sector in Turkey is growing quickly, and the Turkish government is committed to modernising the rail system.

The state-owned Turkish Railways opened the rail network to use by private operators in 2014, and freight movement has expanded since then.

The government plans to invest more than $23.5 billion in rail infrastructure projects in the next five years, and the Turkish rail industry is ‘migrating’ to European rail standards for its infrastructure as inter-continental rail traffic grows.

William Furman, Greenbrier CEO, said: “Greenbrier views Turkey and the Mediterranean region as a key corridor within the global freight railway system.

“Expansion into Turkey is a logical extension of our market-leading Greenbrier Europe operation.”