SYSTRA was formed from the resulting merger of two engineering subsidiaries : one founded by SNCF in 1957 (SOFRERAIL, Société d’Etudes et de Réalisations Ferroviaires) and the other by RATP in 1961 (SOFRETU, Société d’Etudes et de Réalisations de Transports Urbains).
Both subsidiaries were designed to market the expertise of their parent companies to customers outside France and, where required, to provide technical assistance to foreign network operators, either to modernise or upgrade existing lines, or to build new lines using the latest technology.
They quickly gained international recognition, largely as a result of their ability to combine their experience both as designer and operator.
The alliance between the two companies was motivated as much by the need for each of them to achieve sufficient turnover from international business to enable them to rank among the leading engineering companies, as by the fact that their technical expertise and the skills of their workforce were complementary. The merger put an end to the unsatisfactory competition between the two companies, while preserving their respective specialist technical skills :
- urban transport engineering
- rail and intercity engineering
Key Dates
- March 1990 : creation of a joint venture
- December 1991 : creation of FINANCIERE SYSTRA holding company
- June 1992 : creation of SYSTRA S.A. a holding company with a supervisory board and board of directors, 72% owned by RATP and SNCF and 28% owned by a banking group. SOFRETU and SOFRERAIL became subsidiaries.
- April 1995 : the holding company, SYSTRA S.A., which controls both companies and their respective subsidiaries in the US, Canada, the UK and Spain changed its name to SYSTRA GROUP.
- November 1995 : legal merger of SOFRETU and SOFRERAIL under the name SYSTRA-SOFRETU-SOFRERAIL.
- June 1997 : SYSTRA-SOFRETU-SOFRERAIL changes its name to SYSTRA
