1950
Export French railway know-how all over the world
1960
Invest in urban transport markets in the cities of the world
1970
Open the way for the automation of transport modes
1980
Reconsider the urban space with tramways
1990
Unite french skills under a single banner
2000
Be at the forefront of the worldwide boom in public transport
2010
Provide impetus for the group’s growth via numerous acquisitions
2023
Acquisition of Atkin’s Scandinavian entities
1957
CREATION OF SOFRERAIL BY SNCF
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On 6th June, SNCF created railway design and construction company SOFRERAIL in order to develop railway solutions outside France. The first contract was won with the rail network of Indian Railways in India.
1961
CREATION OF SOFRETU BY RATP
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On 6th March 1961, the urban transport design and construction firm SOFRETU was created with a view to exporting RATP’s expertise to the big cities of the world. The first contract it obtained was the Montreal Metro in Canada.
1967
MEXICO CITY METRO – MEXICO
1967
SANTIAGO METRO – CHILE
1970
CAIRO METRO – EGYPT
1974
VAL DE LILLE, THE WORLD’S FIRST AUTOMATIC METRO
It is in the city of Lille, France, that the very first metro in the world to run on VAL (automatic light rail vehicle) technology emerged. Group experts were mobilised for a quarter of a century from 1974 to 2000, enabling the creation of the first two lines. Since 2010, we have participated in the capacity increase of line 1, using new trains of 52 metres in length.
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1985
NANTES TRAMWAY, PIONEER OF TRAMWAY RENEWAL IN FRANCE

Nantes was the first city to count on the development of a modern tramway network in its agglomeration. From 1978, SOFRETU advised the municipality in its initiative and accompanied the whole project which concluded with the commissioning of the first line at the start of 1985. The Group has since contributed to the extension of the network which, with 3 lines, has become one of the most extensive in France.
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1990
CREATION OF THE CANARAIL SUBSIDIARY IN CANADA
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The Canarail subsidiary was created to conquer the railway and freight engineering market in Canada. In 2018, its activity expanded to urban modes, under a new name: SYSTRA Canada.
1992
CREATION OF SYSTRA | MERGER OF SOFRERAIL AND SOFRETU
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17th July 1992 marked the birth of SYSTRA, which means ‘Systèmes de Transports’ (Transport Systems). From 1992 to 1997, SYSTRA progressively integrated the activities and assignments of SOFRERAIL and SOFRETU throughout the world. This period was also marked by the development of the Group in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and in the Middle East, with the acquisition of MVA Consulting.
1992
PATENT ISSUED FOR THE U-SHAPED VIADUCT DESIGN
This unique concept combines an elegant design with reduced costs and construction times thanks to prefabricated structures. Its design is also adapted for sustainable solutions: installation of solar panels on rooves, use of fibre-reinforced concrete, reduction of noise impact thanks to the S-Rack system. Currently, more than 500km of U-shaped viaduct has been built in the world: Santiago, Shanghai, Dubai, Jakarta, Mecca, Taipei, Delhi, etc.
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2003
FRANCE: INAUGURATION OF THE BORDEAUX TRAM
An ambitious objective: reduce traffic with a transport mode on its own site, and assimilate it as discretely as possible with the historic architecture of the city. A feat achieved notably thanks to ground-level power supply (APS), a world first. Today, the Bordeaux Tram has 77km of lines serving more than a third of the city’s population.
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2007
RAIL SPEED WORLD RECORD
3rd April 2007 is the date the rail speed world record was reached on the High Speed Line designed and executed by SYSTRA. The high speed train specially prepared for the occasion reached 574.8km/h on phase 1 of the East European HSL, inaugurated between Paris and Metz on 10th June 2007.
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2009
DUBAI METRO – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
2011
FIRST DESIGN CONTRACT FOR THE GRAND PARIS EXPRESS
2011
Integration of Xelis and Inexia
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SYSTRA integrates the activities of Xelis and Inexia. The Group changes in size by doubling its turnover, and by bringing together more than 3,000 colleagues.
This event marks the start of a phase of strong development for SYSTRA, under the banner of a new red logo.
2012 – 2019
New acquisitions for new horizons
These years are marked by the growth of the Group’s global footprint: from 50% of turnover achieved internationally in 2012, this share grew to 70% in 2019. This development is partly due to a strong external growth momentum over the period. Mobility or engineering company acquisitions, of different sizes, across the entire world:
BN Tech, South Korea (2012)
SAI, India (2014)
JMP Consultants, United Kingdom (2015)
Tectran, Brazil (2015)
SIAS Transport Planners, United Kingdom (2016)
Dalco Elteknik, Sweden (2016)
Scott Lister, Australia (2016)
Vetec, Brazil (2016)
International Bridge Technologies, USA (2017)
TSP Projects, United Kingdom (2019)
C&S Conseils, France (2019)
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2014
DUBAI TRAM – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
2017 – 2018
Inauguration of 4 High Speed Lines – France and Morocco
Between July 2017 and November 2018, SYSTRA succeeded in delivering to its clients 4 HSL projects:
– Paris-Bordeaux
– Casablanca-Tangier
– Le Mans-Rennes
– Nîmes-Montpellier
These projects are redrawing the map of the regions they serve with considerably reduced journey times (1h less between Paris and Bordeaux; 2h1/2 less between Casablanca and Tangier), reliable services and an emphasis on the development of sustainable mobility (first mixed freight – passenger line in France between Nîmes and Montpellier).
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2018
ELECTRIFICATION OF BUS FLEETS IN CANADA AND IN FRANCE
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All over the world, governments and bus network organising authorities are resolutely taking the path of energy transition to combat climate change. Buses are at the forefront in leading this sustainability revolution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In Canada in Quebec City, in France in Orléans and in Paris at two RATP depots, SYSTRA is supporting several clients in the success of their bus electrification projects, while our teams have developed a specific simulator, TESS (Transit and Electromobility Smart Simulator) to model the operating scenarios for these new vehicles.
2018
The massive deployment of automation is shaking up transport
A pioneer in the automation of metro line steering systems since the 1960s, SYSTRA makes use of its areas of expertise to envisage the automation of transport modes outside their specific transport lanes.

Since 2018, we have been leading pioneering autonomous vehicle testing projects in Singapore with the technological research institute SystemX and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and we are one of the major players alongside SNCF in the Autonomous Train programme, which envisages the movement of functional prototypes by the end of 2023. In order to gather all its thoughts on the subject, SYSTRA has published a White Paper entitled Automated and Autonomous Public Transport.
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2019
SUBIYAH BRIDGE – KUWAIT
2021
Acquisition of SWS Engineering
In October 2021, SYSTRA acquired SWS Engineering, an Italian engineering company specialising in the design of tunnels and underground structures. With the acquisition of this company, which employs 240 people, SYSTRA is affirming its ambition to become a world leader in the field of tunnel and underground infrastructure engineering.
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2023
Acquisition of Atkin’s Scandinavian entities
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In August 2023, SYSTRA  acquired the three Swedish, Danish and Norwegian entities of Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, which specialise in infrastructure design and project management consultancy, as well as rail testing services in Denmark. With these 770 new employees, SYSTRA becomes a leading Scandinavian player in the field of engineering and consultancy for transport infrastructures.
2023
Cutting-edge underground expertise
In March 2023, our operations in Australia and New Zealand acquired Bamser, an Australian engineering company based in Brisbane and renowned for its excellence in underground engineering. In April 2023, Subterra, a Spanish company specialising in tunnel engineering, joined the SYSTRA Group. 
This double integration enables SYSTRA to strengthen its worldwide expertise in the field of design and underground structures and to increase its presence in Oceania, Spain and Latin America.
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