Škoda Group Austria Established

On 2 February 2023, the Škoda Group announced that it had established a new subsidiary, Škoda Group Austria GmbH, which on 1 February 2023 took over 40 employees and part of the assets of Molinari Rail GmbH Austria, which went into insolvency in November 2022 and was part of the Swiss parent consultancy Molinari Rail AG.

With this move, the Škoda Group strengthens its position in the field of technical engineering and design with an experienced team that will work on both group and in-house projects. The new subsidiary has its headquarters in Wien and a works in the Tyrolean town of Schwaz. Škoda Group Austria will have a great deal of autonomy in terms of its business and expertise, but will also participate in the activities of the entire group. 

Currently, the aim is also to complete orders that have been worked on in the past. These include the ÖBB contract to rebuild 22 Class Bmz 21-91 seating cars into Class Bbcmvz couchettes for nightjet trains. The first two 200 km/h cars were completed in September 2021 and the first carriages started service in December of that year on the Wien - Bregenz route. The entire batch was due to be handed over to the operator by summer 2022, but by the beginning of 2023 only about two-thirds of them had been completed.

The rebuilding is being carried out by ÖBB Train Tech (ÖBB Technische Services until August 2021) at the Simmering site. Molinari Rail Systems GmbH from Dessau, Germany, was also involved in subcontracting (air and cable ducts, electrical switchgear), but it is also insolvent.