SYSTRA is a multinational engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector, whose fields of activity include rail and public transport. In 2019, it employed a staff of about 7,300 people, and is a limited company which shareholders include French national railway company SNCF, RATP, and various banks.
History
The origins : French engineering
The history of SYSTRA begins in 1957, when the SNCF created SOFRERAIL (French Company for Railway Design and Construction). Four years later, the RATP also creates its own engineering branch : SOFRETU (French Company for Public Transport Design and Construction). SOFRERAIL and SOFRETU merge in 1995, originally under the name SYSTRA-Sofretu-Sofrerail, later shortened to SYSTRA in 1997.
In June 2011, INEXIA (engineering branch of the SNCF) and XELIS (the 2006 launched engineering branch of the RATP) both join SYSTRA. The merger is finally ratified on 1 July 2012.
International acquisitions and development
Created as an international company, SYSTRA quickly develops a network of branches and subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. In 1995, the acquisition of the MVA group gives SYSTRA a consulting base in Hong-Kong and the MiddleEast. In 1990 the CANARAIL subsidiary is created in Montreal (now known as SYSTRA Canada), and in 1994 the US branch opens in New York City under the name of SYSTRA Consulting. In 2006, after 50 years of presence in India, the SYSTRA India subsidiary is created in Delhi, and further developed with the acquisition of the Indian engineering office SAI. In 2015, SYSTRA buys JMP Consultants Ltd, a British company that specializes in engineering and transport planning consulting. That very same year, SYSTRA buys Tectran, thus strengthening its Brazilian implantation.
In 2016, SYSTRA acquires 4 new subsidiaries: Dalco Elteknik AB (a Swedish rail engineering company), Scott Lister (an Australian company specialized in system engineering and risk management), SIAS Transport Planners (A British company specialized in transport planning consulting) and VETEC (a Brazilian road and rail transport engineering and consulting company).
In 2017, the group strengthens its "bridges and civil engineering structures" department by acquiring the California-based company International Bridge Technologies. Its Brazilian subsidiaries Tectran and VETEC merge at the end of that very same year.
In 2018, the Canadian branch, CANARAIL, changes its name to SYSTRA Canada.
Innovation
SYSTRA has been a partner of the French national research program Ville10D since 2012. The program consistently promotes the exploitation of urban underground spaces via the design of sustainable metropolises. With about 30 partners (engineers, project managers, research labs, companies and NGOs), the program hopes to improve knowledge of underground resources and to show there is a realistic alternative to laying out the surface only. This initiative of the French Association for Tunnels and Underground Space (AFTES) is supported by the French Minister for Ecological Transition.
SYSTRA's teams also work towards developing autonomous trains together with the SNCF. The aim is to create a system that perceives its surroundings in a way that imitates the observation powers of train drivers. Since 2015, the group has worked with several partners on European wide research and innovation projects, including IN2RAIL, SHIFT2RAIL and CAPACITY4RAIL. These projects intend to optimize the conception of key elements in the infrastructure (tracks, tracks appliances), to develop predictive maintenance and to envisage future rail management systems.
Since 2016, the firm has been part of the consultative technological committee of Virgin Hyperloop One, a company developing the high speed transportation technology "Hyperloop". In January 2017, the Californian company asked SYSTRA to assess the safety of the Hyperloop infrastructures in order to obtain the legal validation of the project. The first two tests are successfully conducted that very same year. The group is awarded the BIM prize for "Build Earth Live Hyperloop", in Dubai during the "Hyperloop Station Design Competition", for its Möbius project. The 2-day challenge consisted in using a collaborative BIM platform to conceive a prototype that would bring the 2h30 train ride between Dubai and the Fujairah Emirate to about 10 minutes.