Tecmec's rail technologies ready to conquer France

The safety of railway networks is guaranteed by companies such as Tecnologie Meccaniche spa (Tecmec), a company based in Albano Laziale (Rome) with 100 employees and a turnover of around 27 million euro (year 2025). The target for the current year is to exceed 30 million euros. A result that, if achieved, would constitute a historical revenue record for the company. A typical family business, Tecmec is one of those companies that are little known to the general public, but very well known to insiders for the exceptional reliability of their equipment and high levels of innovation. Characteristics that strengthen the reputation of Italian-made technology around the world. The company can count on a group of more than 20 engineers engaged in research and development activities.

Tecnologie Meccaniche designs and manufactures the individual elements that make up the railway signalling infrastructure, the basis of rail transport safety. Tecmec was the first company in the world to manufacture a signalling system (high-level railway traffic lights) with LED technology. Tecmec has developed a newly developed equipment for level crossings, which guarantees the highest safety standards available on the market (Sil4) with a reliability index close to 100 per cent. A system that could soon land in France, because SNCF (the transalpine railway operator) has expressed its interest in this product to the Italian company.

Founded in 1972 on the outskirts of Rome with the initial name of La Tecnoautomatica Sud, the result of founder Gianfranco Tinti's passion for precision mechanics, the company rapidly entered the national market by supplying technologies and systems to the entire FS (Ferrovie dello Stato) group. Tecmec is divided into five plants occupying an area of around 50,000 square metres. The company's twenty departments can be grouped into four macro-areas: design, verification and validation, production, quality and control.

The company is now led by Emanuele Tinti, Gianfranco's son, who is managing director and partner of Tecmec. After graduating from university in Italia, Tinti went on to study in New York where he obtained a Master's degree, subsequently pursuing personal activities before devoting himself to the family business, where he has already developed three patents relating to railway and road safety. The company's main customer is the Italian railway network (Rfi), with whom it is currently negotiating the supply of an innovative, intrinsically safe, multipoint shunting system, entirely designed and manufactured by Tecmec, for the actuation and control of switches (the railway switches). Says Emanuele Tinti: "Tecnologie Meccaniche is a constantly developing company. By integrating mechanics, electronics and software, Tecmec sets new standards in the railway sector".

For the future, 'the strategic objectives,' continues the CEO, 'are twofold: diversification and internationalisation. In the first case, we aim to enter the military, aerospace and aeronautics sectors by exploiting the skills and knowledge gained in the railway industry. The reference customer could be Leonardo. As far as growth abroad is concerned, at the moment, the biggest opportunities are in France with level crossings, where we have been invited by SNCF to explain how our product guarantees the highest safety standards and can be adapted to the transalpine railway market. Next September,' Tinti concludes, 'we will be present at Innotrans, the world's most important trade fair for the railway industry, held every two years in Berlin, where we will present our innovations to international operators.