Schenectady, NY – July 12, 2006 – SEPSA Corporation, a Madrid, Spain based leader in designing and manufacturing transit equipment will establish its North American manufacturing facility in Schenectady County. SEPSA has entered into a lease with an option to purchase a 17,000 square foot facility on Duane Avenue in Schenectady creating over 35 jobs immediately with the potential to increase to more than 100 jobs over the next few years. SEPSA also operates two manufacturing plants in Spain and a plant in China.
Gary Hughes, Chair of the Schenectady County Legislature’s Economic Development Committee said, “We are so pleased that SEPSA has established operations in the heart of the City. This firm is making a commitment to Schenectady that is truly consistent with the goals of the Empire Zone Program — to create jobs in urban areas. We applaud SEPSA’s commitment to building world class transit equipment in Schenectady’s Empire Zone.”
Mayor Brian U. Stratton said, “SEPSA’s arrival in Schenectady is further proof that urban areas have what it takes to attract growing tech companies. We are pleased that the City’s Renewal Community Program helped make this deal possible. SEPSA will continue Schenectady’s great tradition of producing rail equipment.”
John Hanrahan, CEO of SEPSA North America said, “We are extremely pleased to be coming to Schenectady and we appreciate the efforts of the building owner Robert Moore, Metroplex, Schenectady County and the Mayor’s Office for their help in helping us establish our converter manufacturing facility right in the heart of the City. We look forward to being a part of the community and utilizing this facility to build world class transit equipment.”
SEPSA designs and manufactures static converters for passenger rail and subway cars. Converters are used to transfer energy from high voltage lines for use in powering auxiliary services in train cars including air compressors, air conditioning, lighting and
other on-board systems. SEPSA has built and retrofitted converters for passenger rail systems in 24 countries with more than 20,000 converters and 18,900 electronic systems in service around the globe since the company was founded in 1981.
In the United States, SEPSA systems are in service at the New York City Transit Authority, Long Island Rail Road, Chicago Transit Authority, Washington Metro, Metro-North, SEPTA (Philadelphia) and other transit agencies and railroads. SEPSA equipment is currently installed in over 7,400 passenger rail cars in the U.S. with current contracts and options to install an additional 1,027 cars.
SEPSA also designs and manufactures state-of-the-art electronic information and control systems including on-board communication systems including video security, entertainment and passenger notification systems all tied to SEPSA’s leading edge converter technology. The company is noted for producing equipment that is highly reliable with low maintenance and high mean distance between failures, the standard by which reliability is measured in the transit industry.
In Schenectady, SEPSA has leased with an option to buy a new building across from the Cardio-Mag/Super Power complex. The company currently occupies 11,000 square feet with an option to occupy an additional 6,000 square feet later this year. SEPSA currently employs over 35 workers at the new facility with plans to grow to over 50 jobs by the end of the year as production ramps up.
The building on Duane Avenue was built by an investor who utilized accelerated depreciation credits available under the Federal Renewal Community Program. Schenectady is one of 40 Renewal Communities in the U.S. Companies that invest in these areas are eligible for special federal tax incentives.
SEPSA has an option to construct additional production space on land adjacent to the new facility. The lot is owned by the City of Schenectady IDA which is administered by Metroplex.
Metroplex worked with SEPSA for over two years to site the new production facility in Schenectady County.
“SEPSA is a leader in transit and we are pleased that a company with their outstanding international reputation has selected Schenectady as its new home,” said Ray Gillen, Chair of Metroplex.