Walloon companies doing 574.8 km an hour !

With the TGV high-speed train recently beating its own record by notching up a breakneck speed of 574.8 km an hour, Wallonia takes pride in its role as the starting blocks of the race towards mobility. After all, a Walloon company helped to make this feat possible by supplying the material for the new generation electronic control system on board the V150 as well as two auxiliary power converters. A symbolic victory for an industry at the cutting edge of progress!

Criss-crossing the enlarged Europe in all directions using land transport is, without a doubt, one of the major axes of European development. In a world where there is no stopping progress and where everything has to take place in real time, a lot is at stake. Passenger and goods transport and, consequently, the communication infrastructures, are mapping out our economic future. Wallonia has always been well aware of this. It has not only set up one of the densest road and railway networks in Europe but has also succeeded, for over a century, in exporting its competencies throughout the world.

As far back as 100 years ago…

Walloon engineers already enjoy an international reputation. One of the most familiar names is Edouard Frankignoul, the world-famous inventor of the Franki piles, a foundation system patented in 1909. A high-flying entrepreneur, he was to rise to the head of a group based in Belgium and operating several foreign subsidiaries employing a workforce of over 5000. To illustrate their success, the Franki piles support San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and the port of Amsterdam no less.

A symbol of the capitalist adventure, Edouard Empain built up his empire in the construction and operation of secondary railways and the introduction of electric traction in urban transport in Belgium and in France. He also contributed to the emergence of one of the major electrical groups. The son of a primary school teacher, the strong personality of this autodidact was also put at the service of the companies run by King Léopold II abroad, always in the fields of transport and electricity (China, Egypt, Russia, Congo).

Etienne Lenoir, for his part, carried out endless experiments and filed for numerous patents in enamelling, electrolysis and glass silvering techniques and in train braking and signalling systems. But, among the many inventions of Etienne Lenoir, the most remarkable is the internal combustion engine.

Inspired by the American model, Georges Nagelmackers created the Compagnie internationale des Wagons-Lits, for Walloon companies and industrialists required to travel throughout Europe. Synonymous with comfort and luxury, the “blue trains” travelled the length and breadth of Europe, Asia and Africa.

Taking the skills into the future

As we have said, today Walloon companies are participating in the major rail and highway construction projects. Component manufacturers recognised for their know-how and professionalism, they propose a broad spectrum of products ranging from the design, manufacture and maintenance of complete rail transportation system to the design and realisation of railway structures and civil engineering, as well as the manufacture of high security ticket barriers with fast opening and wicket gates. Others specialise in the production of metallic lifting, traction and stowing cables, of urban lamps, of motorway signal gantries or even the construction of bridges, roads and tracks, the design and manufacture of acoustic protection devices and equipment for structures with a high architectural value and buildings (stations, offices).

Electronics are also an area of Walloon expertise, encompassing data merger technologies for secure navigation, a software suite for the automatic management and running of warehouses, designed especially for the transport and storage sector, and intelligent video surveillance techniques: traffic analysis, detection of specific events (traffics jams, dangerous behaviour), statistics and classification concerning road traffic …

As far as services are concerned, Walloon companies specialising in the sale of new or refurbished railway material or studies into railway carriages operate world-wide.

Aware of the wealth of its know-how, underpinned by far-reaching experience and advanced technical knowledge, Wallonia is looking to the future by supporting research and development. Many companies have in-house R&D departments that are already drawing up the blueprints of tomorrow’s mobility. For example, it took 14 months to design and to conduct trials and tests on the trains that allowed the TGV to smash its speed record.

You see, wherever you are in the world, you are almost certain to pass through a gate manufactured in Wallonia, to use underground or railway trains made using Walloon know-how or to be kept safe by a video surveillance network made in Walloon. Have a good journey!