Railpower enters new phase…
A former VP at Bombardier Transportation is replacing Jim Maier as president and CEO of Railpower Technologies Corp. as the company begins full-scale production of its hybrid yard and road switcher locomotives. Jose Mathieu has a mechanical engineering background and was a 23-year veteran of Bombardier Transportation. His experience at Bombardier and the network he brings to the table will serve Railpower well as it enters this full-scale production phase. I anticipate analysts will be happy with this appointment, which comes as no surprise. Railpower announced in October that Maier would be stepping down because of personal issues.
Maier, who served as CEO for three years, plans to stay on Railpower’s board of directors. Kudos to the man for building the company into a Canadian success story. In the past year alone Railpower has secured some major orders from some of the highest profile railway operators in North American, including Canadian Pacific Railway. The company is fortunate to have him stay on as a board member and advisor.
For my most recent posts on Railpower, read here and here.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Railpower is an exciting and innovative company. With the world going to green/renewable energy sources, one must look towards all types of regenerative and hybrid power in all aspects of commerce, transportation, and living. I’ve invested in Railpower because I feel that it has just completed a turn around with its technology on both the locomotive and crane product lines. It’s investments from outside sources, mainly a teachers’ pension fund is a huge flag for growth in the next 5-20 years. I believe that this is truly buy-now. and it will at least double by Fall of 2009.