Dec. 31 - Six power transformers of 400 kV to seven at 225 kV for the French high-speed railway system, for a total order value of €10 million. The Modena-based company Elettromeccanica Tironi, and two qualified partners in the sector of integrated technological services, Cegelec and Ineo, effectively enters the French high-speed railway market. The 13 transformers will be installed in four new substations that will feed the high-speed line "LGV Sud Europa Atlantique" which, from 2017 onwards, will feature a double-track structure in the 302 km between Tours and Bordeaux. "To understand the scope of the operation – said President Maurizio Tironi - it takes a few figures: €8 billion investment, 4,500 new jobs and four million passengers expected. It is a very important operation that broadens a lot of our international range. The project involves important economic actors, from the French rail network to EBI, the European Bank for investment." The first relationship between the French railway system and Elettromeccanica Tironi began almost 20 years ago, in 1994, when the Italian company supplied 20 transformers and autotransformers to SNCF. In 1999 and 2004, two more major contracts for 8 power transformers at 225 kV were signed, to supply the high-speed lines "LGV Méditerranée" and "LGV Est".

ELETTROMECCANICA TIRONI’S PROFILE
Elettromeccanica Tironi designs and manufactures power transformers and high voltage systems. Its plant in Via degli Scarlatti, Modena, hires about a hundred employees. In 2011 it recorded a turnover of €25 million, with an export share of 80 % (especially to the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France and Germany). Today, the capital of the company is 100 % in the hands of the Tironi family (president Maurizio Tironi, and the CEO sons Matteo and Marco, who represent the fourth generation of the family). In 2010 it celebrated 50 years of activity.