How DECEL works with customers and partners

Who DECEL works with

• Infrastructure managers such as Trafikverket, which own and are responsible for the yards.
• Maintenance contractors such as Infranord, Strukton and NRC Group, which handle daily maintenance on behalf of the infrastructure manager.
• Consultants and industry organisations such as WSP and Swedtrain.
• State railways in Sweden and Finland, where DECEL has supplied retarders to yards including Tampere.
• International customers and partners, today mainly in Kazakhstan through DECEL Central Asia LLP.

Each role has different needs. The infrastructure manager wants a facility that works for decades, the contractor wants to maintain it efficiently, and the operator wants to shunt more wagons per shift without risk to staff.

The cooperation step by step

1. Analysis and design

DECEL reviews the yard: track gradient, wagon weights, traffic volume and existing equipment. The braking solution is designed on that basis. At Sävenäs in Gothenburg, Sweden, being modernised through 2030, DECEL is optimising the braking system and supplying new control for 1,500 pneumatic retarders.

2. Delivery and installation

Retarders are manufactured in Överhörnäs, Sweden, and installed on site, often with the yard in operation. In Gävle, 960 retarders were installed while the yard kept running.

3. Testing in real operation

New products and control technology are tested together with the customer before wider roll-out. At Borlänge marshalling yard, DECEL and Trafikverket are testing new retarder technology in live operation. At a marshalling yard in Kazakhstan, DECEL's complete system has been tested for more than a year with heavy wagons from a steelworks.

4. Training

DECEL trains the customer's operations and maintenance staff in system function, troubleshooting and maintenance. In April 2025, Infranord staff responsible for Sundsvall marshalling yard were trained.

5. Maintenance and refurbishment

Retarders are refurbished and tested in DECEL's workshop and returned to service. This extends service life and keeps the yard available. DECEL's retarders in Gävle have been in service since 1991.

What makes the cooperation long term

DECEL has its roots in the spiral retarder system and on 1 August 2023 took over Bosch Rexroth's retarder product line, formerly Hägglunds Drives. That means DECEL can maintain, refurbish and upgrade yards installed decades ago, with the same expertise that built them. Customers do not need to change supplier as the equipment ages.

Partners in export and development

DECEL's work in Central Asia is carried out with local partners and with support from the Swedish Embassy in Kazakhstan, which highlighted DECEL's work at a seminar in the Swedish Parliament in June 2025.