WSP recently signed a historic contract with Danish State Railways (DSB). The CAD 50 million contract encompasses both technical and advisory services for the acquisition of future rolling stock for the whole country, including all business and infrastructure changes required by the new fleet.
The entire project is valued at approximately DKK 20 billion (CAD 3.8 billion), making it one of the most extensive railway projects in Europe in the last ten years.
“With WSP, we feel confident that we have chosen a long-term partner who is outstanding in combining strategic and multidisciplinary technical advisory services for rolling stock procurement, including derived investments in depots, infrastructure, IT, and business change,” says Jürgen Müller, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Rolling Stock at DSB. “WSP has proven that they are best suited to advise us on rolling stock procurement, ensuring a smooth introduction of modern and proven rolling stock product, with focus on a low total cost of ownership.”
Trains of the Future
Denmark is investing massively to upgrade its entire railway, electrifying most of the network and implementing the European standard signalling and safety system, ERTMS. A major part of this is the DKK 20 billion procurement of a new generation rolling stock. “Fremtidens Tog” (Trains of the Future), the largest rolling stock program in Danish history, is comprised of the specification, design, procurement, delivery, and implementation of a complete new fleet of intercity and regional trains, using Life Cycle Cost (LCC) methodology with a strict emphasis on top quality, safety, reliability, and maintainability. These modern and reliable electric trains will enable DSB to handle both the necessary replacement of old trains in the existing fleet, and the expected growth in passenger numbers towards 2030.
The advisory services include what DSB has termed “Derived Projects”, which includes new maintenance depots, consequential infrastructure alterations, IT infrastructure, and all other business changes emanating from the new fleet and its impact on society. In this way, the contract combines an engineering and a business advisory project.
One Stop Shop
“This project demonstrates the strength of two main elements of our strategy: the growth of Rail Advisory and the build-up of a strong rolling stock engineering team. One of the reasons that DSB chose WSP was that they wanted a “one stop shop” and WSP Group was unique in offering them that,” says Patrik Guné, Business Area Manager WSP Civils.
The WSP team is currently gathering their members and relocating to Denmark, to establish themselves in DSB’s central offices in Copenhagen.
For further information, please contact:
Mats Önner, Project Manager and Head of Global Rail Advisory, [email protected]
Ulf Larsson, Project Sponsor and Head of Rail Advisory, [email protected]