Editorial

Dear Readers,

I would like to thank you right at the beginning of this issue! We look back on 70 years of Plasser & Theurer with joy, pride, and gratitude. Without your loyalty as customers and business partners, these years of stability would not have been possible. After crunching the numbers, we concluded that we were involved in the construction of 1.3 million track kilometres with Plasser & Theurer machine technology. From urban transport companies, high-capacity lines, heavy-haul railways, and industrial tracks to the world’s growing high-speed lines: our products are used in 110 countries. But we do not want to rest on our laurels.

As the pillars of the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, you are certainly aware of many changes in the industry: the shortage of skilled workers, rising energy costs, official requirements, new and lengthy authorization processes as well as climate change present us with new challenges. However, there are also positive developments. Personally, I’m excited about the upswing the railway is experiencing. The increasing demand for the most environmentally friendly mode of transport and higher train frequencies impose new requirements on maintaining infrastructure.

In our opinion, ecology and economy go hand in hand in the long term. A few years ago, hybrid drive technology was still an exception on our machines. Today, the demand for it is increasing massively – sustainability has become essential! It pays off to look ahead, because in the railway industry we think in terms of decades when it comes to the service life of installations and technologies. That is why we are working at full stretch on environmentally friendly, autonomous machines and are focusing on digital solutions, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. Because we promise one thing: our innovations and our partnership with you will continue to set standards for the benefit of the railway system for the next 70 years.

Yours sincerely,

Johannes Max-Theurer
CEO, Plasser & Theurer