Tecmec’s railway technologies are set to conquer France

The safety of railway networks is ensured by companies such as Tecnologie Meccaniche spa (Tecmec), a firm based in Albano Laziale (Rome) with 100 employees and a turnover of around €27 million (in 2025). The target for the current year is to exceed €30 million. If achieved, this would represent a record-breaking revenue figure for the company. A typical family-run business, Tecmec is one of those companies little known to the general public but well-regarded by industry professionals for the exceptional reliability of its equipment and high levels of innovation. These characteristics reinforce the reputation of ‘Made in Italy’ technology worldwide. The company can count on a team of more than 20 engineers engaged in research and development activities.

Tecnologie Meccaniche designs and manufactures the individual components that make up the railway signalling infrastructure, which forms the basis of rail transport safety. Tecmec was the first company in the world to manufacture a signalling system (overhead railway signal) using LED technology. Tecmec has developed a new-generation system for level crossings, which guarantees the highest safety standards available on the market (SIL 4) with a reliability rate of nearly 100 per cent. A system that could soon be introduced in France, as SNCF (the French rail operator) has expressed its interest in this product to the Italian company.

Founded in 1972 on the outskirts of Rome under the original name of La Tecnoautomatica Sud, born out of founder Gianfranco Tinti’s passion for precision engineering, the company quickly established itself on the domestic market by supplying technologies and systems to the entire FS (Ferrovie dello Stato) group. Tecmec comprises five plants covering an area of approximately 50,000 square metres. The company’s twenty departments can be grouped into four main areas: design, testing and validation, production, and quality and control.

The company is now led by Emanuele Tinti, Gianfranco’s son, who is the managing director and a partner at Tecmec. After graduating in Italia, Tinti continued his studies in New York, where he obtained a Master’s degree, before pursuing personal projects and then devoting himself to the family business, where he has already developed three patents relating to rail and road safety. The company’s main client is Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), with whom negotiations are currently underway for the supply of an innovative, intrinsically safe multi-point shunting system, entirely designed and manufactured by Tecmec, for the operation and control of points (railway switches). Emanuele Tinti says: “Tecnologie Meccaniche is a company in constant development. By integrating mechanics, electronics and software, Tecmec is setting new benchmarks in the railway sector.”

Looking ahead, “we have two strategic objectives,” continues the CEO, “namely diversification and internationalisation. In the first instance, we aim to enter the military, aerospace and aviation sectors by leveraging the expertise and knowledge we have gained in the railway industry. A key client could be Leonardo. As for growth abroad, the greatest opportunities currently lie 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 French railway market. “This coming September,” concludes Tinti, “we will be attending Innotrans, the world’s leading railway industry trade fair held every two years in Berlin, where we will present our innovations to international operators.”