Groundbreaking ceremony: RAILPOOL invests in new locomotive workshop in Hamburg Billbrook

RAILPOOL Group, one of Europe’s leading rail vehicle leasing companies, is investing in the construction of a new modern locomotive workshop in Hamburg Billbrook. The construction project will be realized on the workshop site acquired by Railpool Lokservice GmbH & Co. KG in 2018. The project comprises a total floor space of approximately 4,000m², of which around 800m² will be used for offices and social rooms. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 7 in the presence of Railpool Lokservice employees.

Torsten Lehnert, CEO of RAILPOOL, says: “By investing in a future-proof workshop infrastructure, we are making an important contribution to the rail industry by providing the maintenance capacity required for the growing volume of rolling stock. The spacious new locomotive workshop building in Hamburg Billbrook will enable a wide range of services from maintenance work to overhauls with the shortest possible throughput times.”

RAILPOOL has six company-owned workshop locations. The two workshop sites of Railpool Lokservice GmbH & Co. KG are located at the hub of European freight traffic in Hamburg, another location in Germany is KTG GmbH in Duisburg, and in August, the Norwegian NTT AS was added with three workshop locations in Norway and Sweden.

Christoph Engel, Managing Director of Railpool Lokservice GmbH & Co. KG, explains: “When planning the thought-through new workshop design, the focus was not only to allow for space for a variety of maintenance options but also on maximizing the efficiency of workshop processes for the benefit of our customers and employees. Increased storage capacity, easier delivery of materials, simplified logistics, for example during overhauls, and powerful overhead cranes will, among other things, ensure even faster throughput times and make the work our employees easier.“

A new office building with attractive social rooms will be built adjacent to the workshop hall, which will also house state-of-the-art training and office facilities. The growing, qualified workshop team can look forward to a correspondingly modern workplace.

The new building will be future-proof, not least thanks to its energy-efficient construction. The offices will be heated with waste heat from the workshop and the roof area will be used for the installation of a photovoltaic system. The entire roof area of the office building and the workshop hall will be covered with extensive greening.

The construction of the new building is scheduled to begin at the turn of the year 2022/23, with a construction period of approximately one year.

About RAILPOOL

RAILPOOL is one of the leading railway vehicle leasing companies offering real expertise for full service from a single source. The company was founded in Munich in 2008 and now operates in 17 European countries.

RAILPOOL is one of the largest providers in Europe with around 400 locomotives and 148 passenger vehicles (and an investment total of 1.6 billion euros). The RAILPOOL fleet covers 85,000,000 kilometers every year and makes an important contribution to the modal shift to rail.
RAILPOOL has its own warehouse with more than 3,100 different spare parts and components.