Alstom is launching its first Innovation Station in the U.S.. The Innovation Station will be located in Pittsburgh, alongside Alstom’s global development center for signaling and train control. The U.S. station joins Alstom's international innovation network alongside centers in Paris, Stockholm, Singapore and Montreal.

"To solve today’s mobility challenges we need to bring together the best ideas across sectors, disciplines, and communities," said Alstom Americas President Michael Keroullé. “Building on what we’ve learned from our stations elsewhere in the world, this new hub will allow us to work side by side with the U.S. transportation sector’s leading thinkers and innovators, including our own people, to advance real solutions and sustainable economic growth.”

Finding global solutions by connecting new, local leadership perspectives 

Alstom says its Innovation Stations create dedicated spaces for collaboration by transit agencies, cities, universities, technology centers, start-ups and industry partners. They aim to identify local ideas and partnerships, accelerate the development of creative solutions and provide a platform to test and incubate new concepts with potential for impact around the world.

Designed around what the company calls a “local for global” approach, Alstom says its U.S. Innovation Station will focus on developing mobility solutions that improve accessibility, sustainability, resilience and passenger experience.

Alstom recently unveiled two examples of what Innovation Stations can produce. At the InnoTrans transportation tradeshow in Berlin last month, the company demonstrated a system, engineered in partnership with Deutsche Bahn, to operate trains remotely from a control center. Alstom is also showcasing a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, AI Talk to My Train, which will help maintenance and operations technicians trouble-shoot and resolve issues on rail vehicles with plain-language commands.