Global business Siemens is expanding its footprint in the rail infrastructure sector with the acquisition of Perth-headquartered MRX Technologies for an undisclosed sum.
MRX provides products and services to the railway, mining and exploration industries in Australia and in the UK through its Derby office.
It holds a portfolio for digitalised condition monitoring of rolling stock components and rail infrastructure, and delivers extensive measurement data used to optimise the maintenance of rail systems to make them more cost efficient.
In a statement today, Siemens said the acquisition would allow it to provide a full spectrum of measurement data related to rail systems, while growing its talent pool in Australia to about 500 rail experts, 250 of whom would be rail signalling engineers.
“By bringing MRX Technologies into the Siemens family we not only strengthen our capability and offering to the rail industry but we also have the ability to take that business to a global level,’’ Siemens Australia and New Zealand chief executive Jeff Connolly said.
“This acquisition makes a lot of sense in a time when digitalisation technologies are key to unlocking productivity gains – that is getting more out of existing rail infrastructure and adding intelligence to existing rail infrastructure.
“This acquisition firmly cements our strength in providing world-class rail service locally and reiterates our commitment to helping operators increase the efficiencies of current and new rail assets.”
Mr Connolly said the MRX acquisition would allow Siemens to bring in an added layer of digitalisation and data analytics to help create intelligent infrastructure for its businesses.
MRX managing director James Blair said the company’s goal was to offer customers higher system availability.
“With this acquisition, we are combining the digitalisation of service-relevant data with the data analytics system and expertise of Siemens that is unique in the industry,” he said.
“Together, we will lead the rail industry into the digital future.”
