By Shweta Jain  gulfnews.com
Siemens Mobility, the mobility division of Siemens AG, is in talks with potential clients in the Middle East to sell its new generation metro — the Inspiro, which the company recently launched.
“We have already made two bids so far for Inspiro in the Middle East,” Bernhard Niessing, CEO for Industry of Siemens Middle East, told Gulf News, without elaborating.
“Although we do not yet know the specification of the next line in Dubai or in Abu Dhabi, we believe that this metro [Inspiro] will be very well adapted for the region,” he added.
Explaining why Inspiro would be appropriate for this market, Niessing said: “From the design perspective we took into account some local constraints such as the weather, the temperature, the sand and so on. So we believe we have a very promising product here for the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) or the Department of Transport.”
The company signed the first Inspiro contract in early February 2011 with Poland’s metro operator, Metro Warszawskie.
Etihad Rail pitch
The Berlin-based global provider of transport and logistic solutions, Siemens Mobility is also making a bid for the Etihad Rail project in Abu Dhabi, according to Niessing.
“For the freight transport link from Habshan to Ruwais we have received the tender and we are in the bidding process at present. We will be submitting an offer to them,” he said.
Asked if the company was also in talks with the RTA for the Dubai Metro project, Niessing said: “Definitely, we are interested in the Metro project in Dubai. We were not involved with the Dubai Metro for the first two lines [Red and Green], but we are looking forward to working with the RTA on new lines. We know that the RTA is in the process of revising its master-plan, and so we are waiting to see what the outcome would be of this.”
Middle East focus
While not elaborating on the scale of investments, Niessing said: “We are investing heavily in this region. We already have projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. These are our main focus countries in this region.”
He added that the mobility and transport market is fast growing worldwide and “60 per cent of the global mobility and transport market will be in the Middle East” in the future, with the dominant countries being the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. “And it’s not just the market, but the demand is also here as this region is facing a population growth — double-digit growth in some countries. So you need a solution and it is no longer individual transportation such as cars,” he said.
The company, has meanwhile, been involved in installing the baggage handling system for Dubai International airport’s Terminal 3.
“It is on a massive scale and we are handling more than 15,000 bags per hour. We also do the operation and maintenance for the baggage handling system, with 400 of our employees on site. We are now in the process of implementing the check-in and logistics system at the T3,” said Niessing.
Siemens Mobility also has a presence in Abu Dhabi, where the company has implemented the traffic management systems including parking management.
