The train manufacturer Stadler warns of Russian industrial espionage in Germany. The company fears that trade secrets could leak to its Russian competitor Transmash Holding (TMH) through a maintenance contract.
The technical know-how is the greatest asset of the company, said a spokesman for Stadler in the “Welt am Sonntag”. “We now have to fear that, contrary to our contractual agreements, it will fall into the hands of competitors,” he said. “We are particularly critical of the fact that these are Russian competitors who are pushing their way into the European market and thus gain access to protected technology that is subject to trade secrets.”
British route operator “doesn’t see it that way”
The background to this is that the British railway company GoAhead, the future operator of the route between Munich and Lindau, outsourced the maintenance of the trains it had ordered from Stadler and Siemens Mobility to the German subsidiary of its Russian competitor TMH. TMH is currently building a depot in Langweid near Augsburg for the maintenance of the vehicles.
“We look at the constellation in Langweid with concern,” said the Stadler spokesman for the newspaper. Talks with GoAhead have therefore already started. The British operator of the route, however, contradicts the fear. “We don’t see it that way,” said a spokesman. In addition, one does not want to comment on the matter.
According to the newspaper, TMH points out that the manufacturers of the trains must provide the operator with the associated maintenance manuals for the maintenance of the trains. “This is common practice in the rail industry, and we would like to emphasize that these documents do not contain any technical drawings or the like that would allow the train to be redesigned and built,” said the TMH spokeswoman. (SDA)