Our history
Expertise from more than 135 years

Competence developed over time

The history of Rail Power Systems is a history of famous names. From AEG and Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) to Balfour Beatty, Telefunken and Daimler-Benz, many renowned experts in rail transport have contributed to the fact that our expertise in railway electrification has become as extensive as demonstrated by the numerous international traction lines, both then and now. 

Stages of our history
2017

RPS Signal GmbH

With effect from 1 September 2017, RPS Signal GmbH transfers its business operations to DB Bahnbau Gruppe GmbH.

2016

Rail Power Systems GmbH

On 31 August 2016, Rail Power Systems GmbH (formerly Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH) and RPS Signal GmbH are taken over by Tianjin Keyvia Electric Co., Ltd (Keyvia) Founded in 2000, Tianjin Keyvia Electric Co, Ltd located in Tianjin is listed at the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchange since 2014. Keyvia is engaged in the field of research and development as well as the planning, manufacture and installation of rail electrification systems for long-distance and local transport. Since 2009, Keyvia and the German company Rail Power Systems GmbH are successfully engaged in the joint venture TJBB in the field of switchgear assemblies for DC railways for the Chinese market.

2015

Balfour Beatty Rail

In November 2014, Balfour Beatty Rail disposes of its Track business unit, JumboTec GmbH and the Austrian subsidiary Balfour Beatty GmbH to the Austrian-Swiss Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group. The transition is completed on 30 January 2015.

Founding of Rail Power Systems GmbH
On 2 November 2015, Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH transfers its Electrification division (i.e. the Fixed Installations and Power Supply System business units, including employees and assets) to Rail Power Systems GmbH.  

2014

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH sells its Railroad Tuning business section on 1 November 2014.

2013

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

The Schreck-Mieves GmbH turnout plant in Dortmund closes on 31 December 2013.

2012

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

On 13 August 2012, the Services business unit of Schreck-Mieves GmbH is integrated into Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH.

2010

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

On 1 September 2010, the track construction business unit of Schreck-Mieves GmbH merges with Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH. With this step, the core competencies in track construction for industry, transit and mainline transport continues under the name Balfour Beatty Rail.

Contract award for InoSig
The joint venture of Bombardier Transportation (Signal) Germany and Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH wins the contract for the first construction phase of the ESTW Wuppertal. Under the joint venture agreement led by InoSig, Bombardier Transportation (Signal) Germany supplies the control and safety technology, while Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH is responsible for the planning, parts of the configuration, project control and project management, construction and installation, including the necessary safety services. IVV Ingenieurgesellschaft für Verkehrsplanung und Verkehrssicherung GmbH is commissioned to provide overall planning and design management. 

2009

Railway infrastructure “Made in Germany” for China’s high-speed rail project:

The first major high-speed line in the heart of China starts operation ahead of schedule and is in service since the end of December 2009. The 968-kilometre, double-track line runs from Wuhan to Guangzhou and reduces the journey time from ten to a mere three hours. It is the core of the new Beijing – Shenzhen (Hong Kong) high-speed link, China’s most important north-south connection. With a design speed of 350 km/h and a cruising speed of approx. 320 km/h, the route sets a new record as the world’s fastest rail link. Due to successful tests with top speeds of up to 394 km/h, it was possible for commissioning to be brought forward by one month. As a foreign partner of the Chinese Ministry of Railways, the International division of Balfour Beatty Rail Germany assumes system responsibility for the overhead contact line on the Wuhan – Guangzhou route. Balfour Beatty Rail develops the basic design of the overhead contact line, supplies 80% of the catenary components and manages the implementation planning with the Chinese design institutes.

2008

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

On 1 August 2008, Balfour Beatty acquires Schreck-Mieves GmbH with all its holdings and branches in Germany, Russia, Sweden and the Netherlands. For Balfour Beatty Rail Germany, the expansion to include track construction represents a strategic addition to its range of services on the German market and a strengthening of its expertise in railway infrastructure. Schreck-Mieves is a systems provider for the planning, construction and maintenance of complete track systems and serves customers in long-distance, freight, regional and local transport.

2007

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

InoSig Joint Venture: In December 2007, Bombardier Transportation (Signal) Germany GmbH and Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH establish a joint venture for the electronic interlocking business (ESTW) in the German market on the basis of the joint venture agreement of 29 October 2007.

2005

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

At the end of August 2005, Balfour Beatty Rail acquires the Stassfurt-based signalling and safety technology company Signalbau Bahn GmbH, or SBB for short. From the beginning of 2006, the company operates under the name Balfour Beatty Rail Signal GmbH. In 2016, the company is renamed RPS Signal GmbH.

2004

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

At the end of 2004, the “Elektrotechnische Ausrüstung” (electrotechnical equipment) business unit of “ABB Gebäudetechnik” is acquired by the Balfour Beatty Rail Group and integrated into Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH. This acquisition expands the competence of Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH in the field of electrotechnical equipment.

2002

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

In 2002, the Italian ABB SAE Sadelmi is acquired by the Balfour Beatty Rail Group and transferred to Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH.

2000

Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH

At the end of 2000, Balfour Beatty plc acquires the Fixed Installations business division of the Adtranz Group. The business is relaunched under the name Balfour Beatty Rail GmbH as an independent division within the Rail Group.

1990s

AEG Bahnfahrwegsysteme GmbH

In 1994, the AEG business section “Bahnstromversorgung / Bahnleitungen” becomes an individual company. In 1995, the first section of the Metro Shanghai project is commissioned. The German industrial consortium “German Metro Shanghai Group” is founded specifically for this project under the leadership of AEG Westinghouse Transport Systems. AEG supplies the vehicles and the power supply systems as part of a consortium. The contact line installations are supplied by Siemens and AEG.

Adtranz
In March 1996, Daimler-Benz and Asea Brown Boveri announce their decision to merge their respective rail activities to form a new company – ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (Adtranz). The final joint venture is approved by the authorities at the end of 1996

Balfour Beatty
In 1996, Balfour Beatty acquires a large stake in the former British Rail, thereby expanding its existing railway business and beginning the current programme of growth in this area that continues to this day. This development is helped by the sale of the company’s cable manufacturing facility, BICC, in May 2000, which frees up capital for further expansion.

1980s

Balfour Beatty

The 1980s are characterised by the extension of the East Coast Main Line electrification from London to Edinburgh.

AEG
From 1989 to 1992, AEG in a consortium with Siemens supplies the 470 km long Madrid to Seville high-speed line with an overhead contact line system Re250 for 25 kV 50 Hz. The section equipped with overhead contact lines by AEG electrifies a total of 384 km.

1970s

Henschel AG

In 1976, Rheinstahl Henschel AG and Thyssen form the group Henschel AG.

Balfour Beatty
By now railway electrification has become a major business for the group and during the ’70s major projects are carried out in Iran, India and Great Britain. To this day, most of the tunnels in the world, which carry electrified railways, have Balfour Beatty conductors in them. Work also begins at the £350 million Mina Jebel Ali port in Dubai in 1975.

1960s

Balfour Beatty

In 1969, Balfour Beatty joins forces with BICC, a cable manufacturing and power transmission business, and works on a variety of projects including railway electrification in India and the UK.

AEG
In 1966, AEG and Telefunken merge to form one company known as “AEG-Telefunken”, to perform electrification projects worldwide. The electrification of German Federal Railways reaches a new high point: 6481 km, i.e. more than 21% of DB’s network is now electrified.

1950s

Balfour Beatty

In the 1950s, Balfour Beatty gains a worldwide reputation for complex civil engineering projects. These include construction of the longest rail tunnel in Britain under the Pennines, the Sloy Dam in the north of Scotland, a 4-mile canal in Iraq to divert the floodwaters of the Tigris which often threatened Baghdad, and major works for developing the London Underground system. A Balfour Beatty company is also established in Toronto to undertake various marine projects in the Great Lakes region in 1954. On its 50th anniversary in 1959, the company can look back on a long history in the worldwide development, construction and operation of engineering works.

AEG
In 1950, Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railways) standardises on a single type of catenary based on the suggestions made by AEG in earlier years. In addition to working on contact line installations for German Federal Railways, AEG is also active in the areas of trolleybus overhead contact lines and industrial railway overhead contact lines. By 1957, a length of 2630 km of the German Railways network has been electrified.

1930s

AEG

In addition to the construction of various overhead contact lines in Germany, AEG has a strong export business. Highlights include the construction of the 44 km long track between San Felipe and Quezaltenango in Guatemala in 1930 and the 20 km long track between Nijmwegen and Arnheim of the Dutch Railway in 1938.

Balfour Beatty
In the 1930s, the company not only builds substations, such as that in Rannoch, but is also a major shareholder in Grampian Electricity Supply Company – which is regarded as a clear forerunner of today’s PFI programmes. During this time, Balfour Beatty builds the first railway in Bermuda and a large dam across the Tigris in Iraq.

1920s

BBC

In 1922, the company BBC is founded in Switzerland. In the early years, the company’s activities focus on the development and production of electrical equipment in addition to the construction of power plants and vehicles. At the same time, the Catenary Department of the BBC, which would later become BBC Brown Boveri, is founded in Munich.

1900s

Balfour Beatty

In the same period as AEG – 1909 – Balfour Beatty is founded in Great Britain. The founders and namesakes are George Balfour, a Scots mechanical engineer, and Andrew Beatty, an English chartered accountant. They lay the foundations for a company that describes itself as “general and electrical engineers, contractors, operators of tramways, railways and lighting properties and for the promotion of new enterprises”. The company’s first contract is for a new tramway system in Dunfermline in Fife.

1880s

AEG

In 1883, the “Gelegenheits-Gesellschaft” (so-called ad-hoc association) is founded by Emil Rathenau in Berlin. During the early years, the company concentrates on the construction of illumination equipment, however the portfolio of the “Allgemeine Electricitäts-Gesellschaft” (AEG), founded in 1887, is quickly expanded in 1888/89 to the construction of electric railways based on the patents of the American inventor J. Frank Sprague. In 1889, a separate AEG Railway Division is founded, which supplies the overhead contact line system for the first electric tram line in Halle in 1891.

Ready for an exciting future

Since Rail Power Systems was founded in 2015, we have been continuing the success story of rail electrification across national and continental borders. Together with our parent company, Tianjin Keyvia Electric, we are leading the way in research and development, as well as in the planning, manufacture and installation of rail electrification systems for long-distance and local transport. Numerous projects in Europe, North America, South America and Asia testify to the trust placed in our expertise, experience and innovative strength by international railway companies.

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