The story
French engineering
SYSTRA was founded in 1957, when the SNCF created SOFRERAIL (French Company for Railway Design and Construction). Four years later, the RATP also creates its own engineering branch: SOFRETU (French Company for Public Transport Design and Construction). SOFRERAIL and SOFRETU merge in 1995, originally under the name SYSTRA-Sofretu-Sofrerail, later shortened to SYSTRA in 1997.
In June 2011, INEXIA (engineering branch of the SNCF) and XELIS (the 2006 launched engineering branch of the RATP) both join SYSTRA. The merger was ratified on 1 July 2012.
International acquisitions and development
Created as an international company, SYSTRA quickly developed a network of branches and subsidiaries in more than 50 countries.
In 1995, the acquisition of the MVA group gives SYSTRA a consulting base in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and the Middle East.
During 1990, the CANARAIL subsidiary was created in Montreal (now known as SYSTRA Canada). In 1994, the company's US branch opens in New York City under the name of SYSTRA Consulting.
In 2000, the Italian railway and urban transport engineering services company SOTECNI joined SYSTRA, being rebranded as SYSTRA SOTECNI.
During 2006, after 50 years of presence in India, SYSTRA India is created in Delhi; it was further developed with the acquisition of the Indian engineering office SAI in 2014.
In 2015, SYSTRA purchased JMP Consultants Ltd, a British company that specializes in engineering and transport planning consulting. Later that same year, SYSTRA bought Tectran, strengthening its presence in the Brazilian market. During 2016, SYSTRA acquires four new subsidiaries: Dalco Elteknik AB (a Swedish rail engineering company), Scott Lister (an Australian company specialized in system engineering and risk management), SIAS Transport Planners (A British company specialized in transport planning consulting) and VETEC (a Brazilian road and rail transport engineering and consulting company).
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In September 2017, the group strengthens its "bridges and civil engineering structures" department by acquiring the California-based company International Bridge Technologies. Its Brazilian subsidiaries Tectran and VETEC merged at the end of that same year.
In 2019, SYSTRA acquired TSP Projects in the UK and C&S Conseils in France.
During 2021, SYSTRA acquired the Italian-based SWS Engineering.
In 2023, SYSTRA acquired the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian entities of Atkins, Rail Systems Australia (a rail signalling firm), Bamser (an Australian tunnel engineering firm), and Subterra (a tunnel engineering firm based in Spain and Latin America).
During 2024, SYSTRA dismissed an employee for raising safety concerns in response to pressure by Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail.
In October 2024, Latour Capital and FIMALAC acquired a combined 58% shareholding. RATP and SNCF each retained 20% with the remaining 2% held by Systra employees.
In 2025, SYSTRA acquired the Spanish company Ardanuy Ingeniería and the Australian company BG&E.
From Wikipedia’s article on Systra, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5