Everyone is experiencing that we are stronger together

 10 Years of the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, as recounted by Michael Wolfsteiner, Member of the Management Board of Rhomberg Gleisbau GmbH, responsible for Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Rhomberg Gleisbau is a subsidiary of Bahnbau Wels. As authorised signatory of Bahnbau Wels, he supervises track construction in Southern Germany; with the company since 2002.

My first encounters with Sersa were as site manager during the track construction work in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel from 2004-2007. At the time we rented locomotives from Sersa and did the track welding together with the Benkler company (Sersa). I remember the director of operations from Valais, Felix Schmid, very well. For me as a young site manager, this was a gigantic project, and at the beginning the language barriers were also enormous. Felix spoke to me in a deep Valais dialect. Working with this native of the canton of Valais remains an unforgettable experience to this day. When there were postponements in the project, he managed to literally conjure up substitute workers from his extensive network. That impressed me profoundly. Back then, I experienced how important the human component is when two worlds collide – Sersa had already arrived in Switzerland; Rhomberg had to prove itself first.

Many networks arose in the group when Sersa and Rhomberg merged in 2012. At that time, I had some points of contact with colleagues in Germany. The SOB Passau-Pocking construction project in 2016 showed just how important such networks actually are. Due to some challenges, the complex building operations were already in a critical situation. As we know, in most cases it’s not only one problem, but rather a whole series of problems that is triggered. Ralf Süß from Schienenschweiss- und Isoliertechnik Rostock GmbH managed to relocate a great team of Sersa welding workers from Rostock in Northern Germany to Passau in a very short period of time. It is thanks to his complete commitment, his coordination skills and the performance of the team that we were able to complete the construction project on time.

The decisive factors in this situation were the open and honest dealings, the solution-orientated attitude. In my opinion, this behaviour is practiced by our colleagues at Bahnbau Wels, its subsidiaries, and in the entire group. Team spirit in a group is difficult to measure, but constitutes major added value.

The high proportion of internal services in the group contributes significantly to our success. There are many examples of stories where our colleagues gave their all. The effort made by Muamer Zahirovic from Wels, when we needed a tamping machine in Tittmoning-Wiesmühl at the end of a three-week project in 2019, spontaneously comes to mind. It rarely happens that machines break down at such short notice due to a defect. My colleague Muamer knew that the machine was important and that cancelling was not an option. He and his workshop employees repaired the tamping machine overnight. Instead of being home with his family, he actively ensured a solution.  

Three strong companies have joined the Bahnbau Wels Group in recent years: Universale Bau, Rhomberg Fahrleitungsbau and JumboTec. Everyone experiences daily how we are growing and becoming stronger together. The integration of the newly added companies takes place continuously in the projects we complete and in the collaboration between colleagues in the Bahnbau Wels Group and in RSRG. Exchanging knowledge and resources works if you know one another personally. The values of helpfulness and appreciation are very important to us. The general conditions for employees in railway and track construction are not easy. Therefore, it seems to me to be even more important to appreciate existing staff.

My vision of how we’ll be working in 2032? We present a client of many years with a prepared proposal. We assist him with resource planning and provide our expertise, our know-how. We bring together the knowledge from the contractor’s and the customer’s side. For us, tenders with a short deadline have become rare.

We design conversion projects in an alternative way, which means we are involved early on and plan together through dialogue. This alternative method of implementation is particularly suitable for sidings and branch lines, also for industrial clients. Because we are involved early on and provide personal support, we can prepare complete packages.

Bahnbau Wels is a pioneer in tamping machine technology. We develop innovations in partnerships with the network operators in Austria, Switzerland and Germany - and it is to our benefit. Our customers appreciate our visionary view and our strong will to innovate, and this strengthens cooperation. Every one of us creates a relationship and proximity to the client. This starts with the foreman, who runs his construction site cleanly and effectively. A personal approach, humanity, is important to us. We live this attitude - every day.