Summary: Stadler Rail AG (also known as Stadler Rail Group) was founded in 1942 by Ernst Stadler as an engineering office in Zurich. In 1945, the company set up a workshop in Wädenswil and built its first small electric and battery-powered diesel locomotives. In 1962, Ernst Stadler moved to Bussnang, in the canton of Thurgau, where he had a larger workshop built and officially relocated the company headquarters there. In 1974, the company became a joint-stock corporation and at the time specialized only in small rail vehicles, mainly for Switzerland’s numerous secondary railway lines. A turning point came in the late 1980s with a change in management, and in 1995 a modular rail vehicle for passenger traffic was developed, leading to the creation of the first articulated railcar, the famous GTW. With the sudden increase in demand, staffing grew and the company embarked on an unprecedented expansion policy. In the 2000s, the Bussnang site expanded from one to three assembly halls, and in 2008, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) ordered KISS electric multiple units, which became the basis for a long series that boosted sales, first in Europe and then globally. In January 2016, Stadler acquired Vossloh’s facilities in Valencia, Spain, allowing it to enter the locomotive segment, which it had not truly tapped into until then. Worldwide, Stadler employs nearly 38,900 people.

➤ Other rolling stock suppliers in Europe: Alstom, CAF, Greenbrier Europe, Hitachi Rail Europe, Pesa, Siemens, Škoda, Talgo, Vossloh