British advisory and engineering company Ricardo has purchased shares of Transport Engineering, a leading rail technical services consultancy based in Australia. The acquisition strengthens Ricardo’s rail division and increases its total staff to more than 700 people. Now, the company’s network includes the experts from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

The deal will be finalised by 30 June. By this time, Transport Engineering is obliged to adopt the brand of Ricardo and transform its business to be a part of a large engineering group. The Australian company will become a local division of Ricardo and remain its specialisation and clients. The Australian division will continue to focus on the full life-cycle management of rolling stock and maintenance procurement programs, and provide expertise in safety engineering, RAM, systems integration, human factors and rolling stock testing and commissioning. The main clients of Transport Engineering are located in Australia and New Zealand.

Transport Engineering

Transport Engineering is based in Chatswood, part of Greater Sydney. The company has almost 100 technical advisors in various areas: rolling stock design, manufacturing and acceptance, systems engineering, safety engineering, reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM), human factors (including accessibility), independent review and rail systems integration. Transport Engineering is mainly focused on the Australian market.

One of the latest projects realised at the home market is the Newcastle Light Rail. The company provides engineering services to support the procurement of the trams and for their testing and entering into service. The Newcastle Light Rail was launched in February. Also, Transport Engineering implemented some projects in New Zealand. It was an engineering advisor of KiwiRail during the entering into service of the G2-2 DL Class locomotives manufactured in China.