21 November 2022 – Inin Group’s wholly owned subsidiary Nordic Infrastructure Group AS has signed an agreement and agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) with Salcef Group, who is a global leader within construction and maintenance of railroad infrastructure to target projects in the Nordic region, the JV will be named “Salcef Nordic”.
Salcef Nordic will supply and operate large specialist heavy machinery for maintenance of railways and tramways like tamping in the Nordic region, while Nordic Infrastructure Group will provide manpower and market presence.
Specially trained personnel have already been secured for the Nordic region. The personnel and equipment will be active on railway lines in the Nordic region from spring 2023.
The new JV company will be named Salcef Nordic AS. It will be jointly owned by Salcef Group (60%) and Nordic Infrastructure Group (40%).
“The Company will offer manned machines for track related work like ballast cleaning, tamping, stabilizing and profiling services to the railway industry in The Nordics meaning Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, utilizing the resources, capabilities and network relationship of the parties and participating in both public tender procedures and private projects.
Salcef Nordic will supply Nordic providers of railway infrastructure and services with specialist heavy machinery and personnel. Instead of making large capital investments in new machinery, which often remains idle between projects and during the winter season, Nordic railway entrepreneurs can hire what they need from Salcef Nordic. Such an approach is cost-efficient for our clients and good business for us too,” says Gjermund Sogn, CEO of Nordic Infrastructure Group.
The Salcef group has a wide range of highly specialized machinery with high production efficiency for all types of track works and railway electrification. The group’s total fleet has more than 600 railway vehicles, including track-laying trains, track renewal trains, ballast cleaners, tamping machines and profiling machines.
“These machines are fundamental to speeding up and simplifying site operations. They range from simple wagons for the transport of materials, to innovative high-tech vehicles such as laying trains and rail grinders. Salcef Group already has ongoing projects in Norway, but we believe teaming up with Nordic Infrastructure Group will allow us to expand our presence more rapidly across the Nordic region,” says Stig Sørgård, head of Salcef’s Norwegian operation.
The main season for construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure in the Nordic region normally runs from April to October. Outside this season, Salcef Nordic intents to employ the machines on projects further south in Europe. This secures higher utilization and better economy of scale for the machines, which in turn allows even more competitive pricing on projects.
“We see significant potential in this JV, and we target substantial revenue growth going forward. These machines often cost several hundred million kroner, so Salcef Nordic will be offering a capital-light and highly competitive solution to the Nordic railway infrastructure providers,” adds Gjermund Sogn.
