Our sites do our talking for us
A month of tests for the new Suite Rapide train in the French Department of Oise in Picardy. At the Beauvais depot, 80 kilometres to the north of Paris, the new trains and machinery that GCF has purchased by itself or with the Transalp Renouvellement Consortium, appear on a sort of railway "red carpet". Almost 80 million euros have been invested in an innovative, super efficient second Suite Rapide train.
The LVT (Low Vibration Track) blocks, the last in a series of 98,000, are gold in colour and have been fixed into the concrete under the eyes of politicians, personalities from the business world and journalists. The official event “Goldene Schwelle”, held on Wednesday 30 May in Camerino, with the casting of the "gold blocks" marks an important stage for the Monte Ceneri Base Tunnel and for GCF: completion of the track work.
A milestone achievement on Cityringen, the new M3 line on the Copenhagen Metro, draws nearer. Last week, GCF - specialist sub-contractor for the Ansaldo Group - completed the trackwork on the twin tunnel circle line which covers the whole of the Danish capital.
Railway renewal work fully under way in the French department of Rhône-Alpes on the 908000 Valence-Moirans line.
The second 2018 Suite Rapide worksite awarded to Transalp Renouvellement, the consortium that GCF heads, has been operating for two weeks on the Valence - Saint Paul les Romains section of the line.
It consists of approximately 250 metres of track raised on posts for each of the 4 lanes and a fully equipped shed covering 8,500 square metres with an innovative removable rigid overhead catenary. Lit during the daytime by over 1,000 powerful LED lights, the modern maintenance depot built by GCF and commissioned by RFI for trains high speed in Mestre is now fully operational.
Four articulated lorries, eight lifters each weighing 35 tonnes, a massive computerized and motorized lathe, the only one of its kind, and a team of specialized technicians. At Sacile, in the worksite next to the station, GCF's “MobiTurn”, the first mobile wheelset lathe in Italy, has been used for the first time.
The first track work objective has been reached in the Monte Ceneri Base Tunnel.
Just under 7 months from when track work first began, GCF finished laying the track on the 15.4 kilometre section of the first of the two tunnel bores, the east bore, on Friday 23 February and handed it over to the company responsible for the energy lot.
These sites will cover half of the French regions and have been assigned the task of renewing, by cleaning the ballast and replacing sleepers and rails, 473 kilometres of railway line by the end of the year. Suite Rapide, at a rate of 1,000 m per day.
2018 marks the start of a new period for GCF in France where it will play a leading role in a project that involves big figures.
This is the first light rail system in Denmark and a strategic infrastructure for the development of Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city by population, and the whole Central Jutland region.
For GCF it has been an important, challenging urban transport site and one where its skills and expertise and the ability to find solutions and implement them in a very short time have played a very important part. The official opening and operating of the urban section have put a winning seal on the project; the next extra-urban stage is now under way and will be completed by the end of the year when 100 kilometres of renewed railway line will be delivered.
A project portfolio worth 1,352 million euros from 2018 to 2024 - one billion in the next three years alone; investments worth 100 million euros in trains and high efficiency machinery; number of employees increased by 60% in two years and currently standing at 1,059. A promising start in new markets, fibre optics for example. This is the profile of the Gruppo Rossi that emerged at the end-of-year convention attended by approximately 250 GCF and Gefer executives and managers..
GCF s.p.a. Head Offices
