Wabtec opens technology centre in Bengaluru, to hire 400 people in 2020

Wilmerding, Pennsylvania-based rail engineering firm Wabtec Corporation will hire more than 400 people for its technology centre in Bengaluru by the end of 2020. 

The centre, which was officially inaugurated on Thursday, currently has 600 employees at the Wabtec India Engineering and Technology Center (WITEC) in the city. Wabtec has 3,000 employees in India, making it the largest rolling stock and rail equipment company in the country, it said.  The company plans to invest about $5-million for the project.

According to the $4 billion US firm, the engineering centre will host engineering teams spanning across the company’s digital electronics portfolio and will feature cutting edge labs. The company also has plans to hire 250 engineers to work on Wabtec’s railway and digital platforms, it said in the media statement.

“Our engineering team in India has been essential in bringing breakthrough technologies to the industries we serve. This new centre will increase our capabilities in additive technology and testing facilities while also establishing a collaborative environment for India team to drive innovation along with our development hubs in Europe and the United States. ,” said Dominique Malenfant, global CTO at Wabtec.  

The facility will include validation labs for distributed power, positive train control, trip optimiser, electronic air brake, signalling systems, EdgeLINC and several other products for Wabtec’s advanced train automation solutions.

“Wabtec is building upon its long history in India with this engineering and technology centre. It demonstrates our continued commitment to the country and our customers in India and around the globe,” said Sujatha Narayan, regional general manager for the India region at Wabtec. The company is one of the largest technology suppliers for the freight and transit rail industries.

WITEC complements the other Wabtec sites in operations across India supporting the freight and transit industries, the company said.

Several MNCs have set up technology centres in Bengaluru. Last year, Sweden's mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson unveiled a global artificial intelligence accelerator (GAIA) facility in the city. 

Companies today are also investing in other cities like Hyderabad to look for local talent. New Jersey, US-based IT firm Ness Digital Engineering recently partnered with credit ratings giant S&P Global to set up a new centre in Hyderabad to expand its software delivery capabilities. Santa Clara, California headquartered chipmaker Intel is also working on expanding its footprint in India with the launch of a new design and engineering centre in the city.