Francesca Piotrowski, Author at Mechan

Key contract secured with Transport for Wales

We have won a major contract with the public transport arm of the Welsh government. Our team will be designing, building and installing a bespoke bogie drop at the Canton rail depot in Cardiff, on behalf of Transport for Wales (TfWRL). The custom-made unit enables bogies to be changed without decoupling trains, saving valuable maintenance […]

Job Vacancy – Project Engineer / Manager

We are on the look out for a project engineer/ manager who is a strong team player to join our highly skilled workforce. Reporting to the design manager, the successful candidate will be responsible for leading projects throughout their complete lifecycle, working with customers from order stage, liaising with internal design and production teams and […]

Mechan jacks support revamped Bletchley depot

Our equipment will be playing an integral role in the upkeep of a new fleet of trains serving travellers in the Midlands. West Midlands Trains’ Bletchley depot in Milton Keynes is taking delivery of 21 lifting jacks, as part of a major refurbishment project due to complete in 2024. The 18-tonne jacks will work as […]

Record year expected as sales reach new high

We are enjoying a bumper year with turnover and order intake projected to finish at an all-time high in December! Unprecedented interest in our flagship lifting jacks is credited with the boost in sales – more than 100 have already been built this year. We have a healthy order book for the next 12 months, […]

Jack production reaches record levels

We are enjoying a bumper year for lifting jacks, producing an unprecedented 122 in just 12 months. From August 2021 to August this year, our factory created jacks for facilities up and down the country, building 104 since January alone. A total of 20 jacks has been delivered to GTR’s Selhurst Depot in London, where […]

Fleet of jacks delivered to capital

We have given a busy London maintenance depot the lifting power to tackle a new heavy overhaul programme. 20 lifting jacks have been supplied to GTR’s Selhurst Depot in Croydon, enabling five-car trains to be overhauled. We have worked with Govia Thameslink for almost 20 years and the new jacks join a raft of other equipment that […]

Enhancing our industry accreditations

We have achieved official industry approval of our supply chain credentials from two independent regulating bodies. Mechan has been awarded the Constructionline Gold standard and endorsement from Safe Contractor, further enhancing our extensive list of accreditations. We first secured Constructionline recognition in 2016, but recently attained the gold award, proving we meet PAS 91 and […]

Equipping £70m rail depot

Our bespoke equipment is set to improve the efficiency and safety of maintenance teams working on the Tyne and Wear Metro. We are designing lifting and handling products for the South Gosforth Traction Maintenance Depot in Newcastle, as part of a £70 million upgrade. International rail company, Stadler, is manufacturing 46 new state-of-the-art trains for […]

Space-saving servicing solution

We have helped transform the centre of a busy London rail depot into a multi-purpose maintenance space. A bespoke wheel drop has been designed and built for the East Ham Train Depot, operated by South Essex and London rail operator, c2c Trenitalia, which enables roof components to be removed in the same location when it is not […]

Highly commended for innovation

We are in the running for a national accolade celebrating the achievements of those pushing the rail industry forward. Mechan has been shortlisted in the ‘small scale project’ category at this year’s Railway Innovation Awards for a bespoke bogie drop we created for Norwich’s Crown Point depot. The awards showcase outstanding innovations and novel technologies from across […]

Shortlisted for innovation award

The unique nature of our products is being celebrated by the local manufacturing community. Mechan is one of five firms shortlisted in the manufacturing innovation category at this year’s Made in Sheffield Awards. We have been selected for the accolade, which recognises the impact of an innovative product or process, after producing a bespoke bogie […]

Mechan jacks raise servicing capacity at Hamilton

We have delivered a bespoke set of lifting jacks to one of Scotland’s busiest depots, to help it keep pace with the high volume of trains being serviced. A set of four 15-tonne jacks has been created for the Hamilton depot in South Lanarkshire, one of only two independent rail maintenance facilities in the country. Depot […]

Prestigious Heathrow contract secured

We are flying high after delivering a contract to supply our flagship lifting jacks to London’s Heathrow Airport. We designed and built 10 bespoke mobile jacks, to speed up the maintenance of vehicles used on the airport’s Track Transit System. Our experts worked with aviation construction specialist, Mace, to design jacks that will operate in conjunction […]

Reducing rail depot’s impact on environment

We are helping to reduce carbon emissions at a Scottish rail depot after introducing an electric shunter. A Rotrac E2 shunter has been supplied to Direct Rail Services’ (DRS) Motherwell facility, following a 14-month trial to prove it can replace a diesel-powered locomotive. The battery powered shunter, manufactured by our German partner, Zwiehoff, is being used by […]

Latest custom project heads to capital

We are extending our longstanding relationship with London Underground, by supplying a bespoke bogie press to its Stratford Market depot. The equipment will enable London Underground to set up the 96 stock tube bogies used on Jubilee line trains. A bogie press mimics the loads imposed by bogies on rail vehicles, to settle the suspension and set […]

Adaptable jacks aid rail services in South

We have provided South Western Railway with a flexible way to service rolling stock at two of its key maintenance facilities. A set of 16 lifting jacks has been delivered to the firm’s Bournemouth and Salisbury Traincare Depots, where they are being used to look after a variety of rail vehicles. Initially, 12 of the jacks have […]

Bespoke skills on show at Railtex

We will be highlighting our work on key UK infrastructure projects at the rail industry’s first major exhibition since the pandemic. Information will be available on our entire portfolio of custom-made lifting equipment at Railtex/Infrarail, which is being held in Birmingham next month. Our team will be based on stand D31 in hall 12 of […]

Underground upgrades lifted to new heights

We have delivered one of our largest ever orders of lifting jacks to London Underground’s Acton depot. A total of 44 jacks have been manufactured at our Sheffield headquarters for the west London facility, taking the total number in use there to 68. The ten-tonne mobile jacks will work with 16 existing units, supplied to Acton in […]

Accommodation bogies streamline Metro maintenance

We have been called upon by Midland Metro, the operator of West Midlands Metro, to keep its tram maintenance programme on track. Three bespoke accommodation bogies have been produced for the Wednesbury depot, to enable carriages to be stored outside whilst the trams’ bogies are refurbished. Accommodation, or dummy bogies as they are sometimes known, support a […]

Bogie drop is jewel in Crown Point upgrade

We have installed a bespoke bogie drop as part of the largescale development of Norwich’s Crown Point rail depot. Our expert engineers designed and built the custom-made unit, which enables bogies to be changed without decoupling trains, saving valuable servicing time. The bogie drop is being used to remove underframe equipment, including bogies, wheelsets, transformers and cooling […]

Jacks enhance updated Glasgow rail depot

We have created a bespoke set of lifting jacks to furnish an upgraded Glasgow maintenance facility. Five of our flagship products have been supplied to Polmadie Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot to help operator, Alstom, reduce servicing times on new vehicles. Working with contractor, Covanburn, who has overseen improvements at the historic facility, we designed and […]

Safety accolade received from Siemens Mobility

We have received recognition from one of the world’s largest rail industry companies for our positive impact on the safety of depot workers. Mechan won the Contribution to Safety and Quality (Supplier) award at Siemens Mobility’s recent UK Supplier Conference. We were presented with the award by Siemens Mobility’s UK head of category management, Martin […]

Mechan and Winvic collaborate on new logistics hub

We are supplying multidisciplinary main contractor, Winvic Construction, with a bespoke rail traverser for a new £29 million Intermodal Rail Freight Terminal that is being constructed for Prologis at its DIRFT intermodal logistics park in Northamptonshire. We are one of few UK firms with the ability to design and build traversers, holding the record for the largest […]

Engineers rise to tiny jack challenge

Our design engineers have gone back to the drawing board to help a short on space freight operator keep tanker wagons in service. We created a bespoke version of our flagship lifting jack for Davis Wagon Services in Kent, to fit in its extremely narrow maintenance facility. Due to the proximity of Davis’ shed wall and track, […]

Continental links secure Paris order

We have joined forces with our French parent company, CIM, to equip a new state-of-the-art tram depot on the outskirts of Paris. A set of 18 lightweight lifting jacks and a bogie turntable will be used to service 22 futuristic trams that will run on the new Tram9 line, a 10km stretch of track connecting Paris’ south eastern suburbs […]

Servicing capacity at Devon rail depot given a lift

Our equipment is set to improve servicing times in the South West, increasing passenger capacity. We have developed a set of 12 lifting jacks and two turntables for a new maintenance facility being built at Exeter’s Old Views depot in Devon. The three-road construction with carriage wash is located on a brownfield site, adjacent to the existing depot and […]

Keep calm and carry on

Our can-do attitude has helped keep the rail industry on track during the coronavirus pandemic. We continued at full capacity throughout lockdown, providing vital support to the maintenance facilities ensuring trains remained available for key workers. In the six months from April to September this year, our engineers completed 212 service visits to rail depots […]

Jacks make uplifting appearance in Nexus film

We wanted to wish the Tyne and Wear Metro a very happy 40th birthday and congratulate operator, Nexus, on its excellent virtual tour of the Gosforth depot in Newcastle. The video is a fascinating insight into the history and present-day operations at this key maintenance facility, which is soon to be reconstructed to cater for a new fleet […]

Client commission extends product range

The development of a new product for longstanding client, Siemens Mobility, has resulted in the growth of our portfolio of rail depot handling equipment. We are now offering bogie lifters to the rail market, after designing and producing a set of 22 for a specialist overhaul facility in Lincoln. Bogie lifters work in pairs to […]

New Zealand orders raise global presence

Thanks to our worldwide reputation for reliability and durability, two rail depots in New Zealand are benefiting from our equipment. We are supplying eight 30-tonne lifting jacks to KiwiRail, eight years after four identical units were installed at the operator’s Hamilton depot. Our new lifting jacks are to be used in the Wellington and Dunedin […]

York joins traverser tally

We are cementing our reputation as the UK’s leading manufacturer of rail traversers, after installing our latest creation at Network Rail’s Holgate depot in York. The 130-tonne traverser was commissioned by Story Contracting to replace a 50-year old unit that was at the end of its useful life. The bespoke unit has a larger capacity than […]

Clients praise service standards

We continue to receive a resounding thumbs up from customers, who have nothing but praise for our product quality and levels of aftersales service. Our popular onsite engineers are the focus of many of the comments we receive, garnering compliments such as: “Dave’s assistance was worth his weight in gold over the weekend and [was] […]

New landmark at Liverpool depot

A newly renovated rail depot in Liverpool has the lifting power to keep its maintenance roads operating efficiently, thanks to Mechan. We have installed a brand-new jib crane at the main doors of the Kirkdale depot, to transfer bogies to storage tracks at the side of the building. Kirkdale is undergoing a multi-million-pound overhaul, in […]

Turntable design transformed

Our expert design team has reinvented one of our most enduring products, saving depot operators time and money during installation. We have launched a new turntable design, following 18 months’ research and development into ways to overcome common problems with pit construction. Turntables sit in a pit at track level and are used to transfer […]

Record jack numbers boost order book

We are enjoying record-breaking demand for our flagship lifting jacks, securing orders for more than 160 already this year. Most of the jacks specified so far are being built for UK rail depots, although sets will also be heading to France and New Zealand. As all of our lifting and handling products are assembled in […]

European partners join us at Railtex

We will be adding a continental feel to Railtex this year by showcasing our own expertise, alongside some of the European innovations we represent. Joining Mechan at Birmingham’s NEC in May will be colleagues from some of the overseas manufacturers, whose products feature in our portfolio. Taking centre stage on stand N10 from May 14-16, […]

Anniversary visit from local MP

Sheffield Labour MP, Clive Betts, has paid us a special visit to mark our 50th anniversary. As Mr Betts was unable to attend our official celebrations, he was invited to a private tour of our offices and workshop. The Sheffield South East MP was greeted by Mechan managing director, Andrew Mott, financial director, Zahir Altaf […]

Cairo team returns to Mechan!

We have welcomed representatives from Cairo Metro to our Sheffield headquarters, almost nine years to the day they made their first journey to the city. Delegates from Egypt’s National Tunnels Authority and depot operator, Colas Rail, arrived last week to see their new bogie drop undertake its final round of testing. The equipment will be […]

Donation marks start of 50th celebrations

To kick off our 50th anniversary celebrations, Mechan has donated £5,000 to Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital. Alison Riley from The Children’s Hospital Charity joined our staff, professional partners and key clients at our 50th anniversary open day, where she was presented with a cheque. We arranged a number of events to raise funds and would like […]

Fundraising goal set to mark half century

We are embarking on an exciting charity mission to celebrate 50 successful years in business. Over the next few months, we are pledging to raise at least £5,000 for Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital to mark this milestone in our development. The close-knit team will be undertaking a range of fundraising endeavours in the run up to […]

News - Author: Francesca Piotrowski