Siemens Mobility, a provider of sustainable and innovative rail solutions, and Railpool, one of Europe’s rail vehicle rental companies, have signed a preliminary agreement to purchase a 15,000 square meters plot from Consorzio ZAI.
The site is located within the Verona Interporto logistics hub, the largest integrated traffic terminal in Italy. With a joint investment of around €20 million, the two companies intend to jointly develop a state-of-the-art expert center for locomotive maintenance, servicing locomotives from various manufacturers as an “open access” depot.
Innovative rail solutions
The newly constructed facility will feature five tracks for light maintenance and one track equipped with a wheel lathe, enabling testing of MS and DC locomotives and maintenance across all major European signaling systems. Railpool and Siemens Mobility anticipate a significant modal shift toward rail by 2032, when the opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel is expected to double rail capacity across the Alps.
“Together with Railpool, we are strengthening rail freight on the strategic Verona-Brenner corridor,” said Michael Peter, CEO Siemens Mobility. “This dedicated locomotive hub is equipped with state-of-the-art maintenance technology to give our customers maximum availability and efficiency. It will support the shift of freight from road to rail as the Brenner Base Tunnel opens and become an important part of our European depot and service network.”
Locomotive leasing solutions
“With our new maintenance hub in Verona, we are strengthening our service network across Europe’s key logistics corridors,” said Torsten Lehnert, CEO of Railpool. “This investment underscores our long-term commitment to delivering reliable, full-service locomotive leasing solutions that support the evolving needs of customers throughout the continent.”
The facility on the strategic Verona-Brenner corridor will be engineered to optimize lifecycle performance and system availability. It will serve as a critical base for light maintenance, handling routine inspections and minor adjustments ensuring immediate operational readiness. This Partner Rail Service Center reaffirms Siemens Mobility’s commitment as a strategic partner in advancing Italy’s rail infrastructure with localized, high-tech solutions for a more reliable, efficient, and environmentally friendly transport system.
Depot and service network
The Verona hub will complement the existing Siemens Mobility Rail Service Center in Novara. Since 2015, this depot on the Rhine-Alpine TEN-T corridor has been providing full service for more than 120 locomotives operated by various major European railway companies.
Locomotive maintenance for freight transport is one of Siemens Mobility’s flagship activities in Italy and across Europe. Globally, the company operates one of the largest depot and service networks in the rail industry, with over 100 service locations in more than 30 countries and approximately 7,000 rail service experts, ensuring up to 100 percent availability of its customers’ rail systems.
Immediate operational readiness
Railpool will leverage its expertise from its 6 in-house workshops and expand its capabilities through the new hub, supported by its team in Italy and its own warehouse containing over 4,500 spare parts.
In 2024, both companies signed a framework agreement for the delivery of up to 250 locomotives to Railpool. The agreement includes multisystem Vectron variants capable of operating in up to 16 countries and across various European rail corridors.