Alstom opens €20m Vado Ligure workshop, targets 600-locomotive monitoring

Alstom has invested approximately €20 million at its Vado Ligure plant in northern Italy since 2021, and on 9 November 2026 it opened a new maintenance workshop there while expanding a remote monitoring centre that now tracks 360 TRAXX locomotives across Europe.

The inauguration extends the role of the former Bombardier Transportation site beyond locomotive manufacturing. Vado Ligure now combines TRAXX production with maintenance of regional and high-speed trains, locomotives and remote fleet support services.

What does the new workshop do?

The workshop covers more than 2,570 m² and runs 130 metres in length. It houses two tracks equipped for Level 2 maintenance, which covers:

• scheduled inspections;
• functional testing;
• component repairs and refurbishment.

Technicians can also remove and reinstall bogies during overhaul programmes delivered jointly with Alstom's Savigliano facility.

Among the first vehicles to arrive are two ÖBB trainsets operating in the South Tyrol region. Alstom transferred them from Savigliano to Vado Ligure as it redistributed maintenance activity between the two Italian sites — a concrete sign that the new capacity is already shifting workloads within the manufacturer's Italian network.

How far does the control room reach?

The second element of the investment is the site's TRAXX control room, whose activities now extend beyond Italy. Specialists use Alstom's HealthHub diagnostic platform to monitor locomotive condition, analyse technical faults and coordinate corrective maintenance with local teams.

A 24-hour technical help desk supports drivers with troubleshooting and works to return locomotives to service quickly — a direct link between the centre's remote capability and fleet availability for operators.

The centre currently covers 360 TRAXX locomotives. Alstom intends to raise that figure progressively to approximately 600. The scale is substantial: the manufacturer estimates more than 2,500 TRAXX locomotives operate across Europe, meaning the expanded centre would remotely support roughly a quarter of the installed European fleet once the 600-unit target is met. That figure remains a projection; the 360-locomotive coverage is the measured baseline as of the inauguration.

Where does Vado Ligure sit in Alstom's Italian plans?

Vado Ligure remains a manufacturing location for TRAXX Universal locomotives, with more than 250 units of the platform sold in Italy. The factory also undertakes work on high-speed rolling stock and power cars for Italy's first hydrogen train.

The plant currently employs around 300 people. The €20 million invested since Alstom acquired Bombardier Transportation in 2021 forms part of a broader Italian industrial programme valued at more than €63 million for 2024–2026, indicating further site-level spending across the country through next year.

For European TRAXX operators, the practical question is what changes: an additional Level 2 maintenance capacity in northern Italy, a reallocation of overhaul work between Vado Ligure and Savigliano, and a single monitoring desk with round-the-clock driver support scaling toward 600 locomotives. Alstom's next milestone will be hitting that coverage target as the Italian investment programme runs to its 2026 conclusion.