Germany: According to the local media HNA, the company has confirmed its negotiations over the facility in Kassel with a staff of 800 employees. The potential buyer is not unveiled due to a nondisclosure agreement. However, the French manufacturer has not yet made a final decision.
Over the last two years, Alstom’s investments into the plant development reached a few dozen million euros. The company declared in 2023 that by 2026 the facility’s annual production capacity would increase from 40 to 160 locomotives. In 2025, Mathias Papritz, CEO of the Kassel facility, reported the plant was working at full capacity.
The growth of production output made Alstom release the Kassel facility from locomotive repair services, opting for outsourcing at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the manufacturer retained 100 employees engaged in the maintenance of locomotives.
The German plant in Kassel has been building locomotives since 1848. In the 2000s, the facility launched production of the Traxx, Europe’s best-selling locomotive platform. Alstom acquired the plant in 2021 as part of its takeover of Bombardier Transportation.
It is worth mentioning that Alstom earlier reported about its plans to relocate the rolling stock production from Germany to Poland after 2026. It was about the plants in Hennigsdorf and Görlitz involved in the manufacture of multiple units and urban rail transport. Last year, the Görlitz facility was finally sold to the defence group KNDS. Alstom also pointed out that it received unprofitable and difficult-to-implement contracts with the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation and announced its intention to optimise the assets.
