“Austria is an entry path for Chinese train manufacturers”

The KURIER spoke to the Austrian managing director of Stadler Rail, Christian Diewaldat the traffic technology fair Innotrans in Berlin we talked about Austria as a railway country, the European railway industry and competition from China.

KURIER: You will soon be delivering the first city jets for ÖBB. How important is the market for you?
Christian Diewald: The market has historically been dominated by two competitors. We achieved a breakthrough with the double-decker order from ÖBB. But we have been in Austria for a very long time. You drive with Stadler more often than you think. We will deliver more than 200 vehicles in the next three to five years. This makes Austria one of the most important markets for us.

Chinese companies are also pushing into the European market. How do you deal with competition from China?
Basically, I love competition. It creates movement. But the most important thing is that tenders are fair. We are not even allowed to make an offer on the Chinese market. The Chinese manufacturer is allowed to offer products to us and receives subsidies from the Chinese state that make you dizzy. That’s not fair.

Does that worry you?
It’s just five minutes to twelve. I also find it worrying that Austria has become a flight path for Chinese manufacturers. There are different projects. One offered trains. But they still don’t drive today. But the really bad thing is when Chinese companies secure European manufacturers at a spot price. They then appear as a European provider, but in reality they deliver everything from China.

There are punitive tariffs for Chinese electric cars. Would this also be a suitable measure for trains?
We will soon see the development that we are seeing in the automotive industry in the railway industry as well. The EU has indeed reacted. Manufacturers who receive subsidies in a third country are no longer allowed to take part in public tenders. But that comes too late for a specific tender case in Austria. The regulation also only affects public operators. As the market opens up, more and more private individuals are entering the market.

Are the cheap trains from China very attractive for them?
They have to survive on their own and reduce their costs. And there’s nothing nicer than having a manufacturer who says: I want to enter the market, help me get approval, and you’ll get a sensational price.

European industry is coming under pressure on many fronts. There is also talk of an impending deindustrialization. Is Europe falling behind?
In Europe people always act as if everyone were ardent Europeans. But when it comes to our own bodies, we are very national and we are only interested in our own interests. You can also see this with railway safety systems. In the USA but also in China everything is the same. When I drive in Europe from Portugal to Poland, I have different gauges and voltage systems. We have to get some standardization in there.

They rely heavily on emission-free drive technologies, from battery electrics to hydrogen. Where is the journey going?
Basically, despite all the hype about electromobility and hydrogen, one has to say that overhead lines are the most efficient technology. But there are use cases where it doesn’t make sense. The electrification of a railway line costs around 1.5 million euros per kilometer. If I have to electrify a certain distance, I can afford a few trains with alternative drives.

You founded an engineering hub in Vienna in 2023. What projects are you working on there?
We received 650 applications for 50 advertised positions in a very short space of time. They work on local projects and are also involved in international projects, such as new trains for Saudi Arabia or the new night train for Norway. And we have a type testing center in Zwentendorf.

You don’t notice any shortage of skilled workers?
You can recruit really good people here. We will continue to expand the hub. Austria has an extremely long history when it comes to railways. Many companies have settled here. When it comes to railway technology, Austria is the fourth largest export country after Germany, China and the USA.