KZN Bieżanów Group

Best business models correspond to the actual needs of the market. We decided to put that into practice. Kolejowe Zakłady Nawierzchniowe "Bieżanów" have been building railway turnouts for over 70 years. In that period, the company has become one of the unquestionable leaders of this sector in Poland. In the course of the privatisation process, and as a result of the related activities to stabilise the financial situation (from 2004 to 2006), our shareholders and employees identified certain weaknesses in the operation of the whole market sector. They included competence gaps at individual stages of investment processes and deficiencies in maintenance of railway tracks.

Our response was the idea to create a business structure to perform these tasks more comprehensively. Clients responsible for managing the railway infrastructure, or making relevant investments, should get fully professional and comprehensive service from a single source, from the design and consulting, production of components and logistics to the construction and further service of railway tracks. The first step towards that was a rapid expansion in the tram infrastructure sector and creating a new branch dealing with track installation (External Works Department).

Additionally, in-house design and R&D departments have been developed to allow implementation of innovative solutions in production, installation and service of key railway track components, such as turnouts. These steps allowed us to approach the set goal, but were not sufficient. That resulted in the company owners' decision on beginning a market expansion by creating and developing a capital group – quite soon KZN "Bieżanów" purchased shares of member companies and established new business entities (2010 to 2015).