Alstom has launched its first-ever Innovation Station in the United States, which will be located in Pittsburgh, alongside the company’s global development centre for signalling and train control.
Directed by Karina Ricks, the new US Station will join Alstom’s existing centres in Paris, Stockholm, Singapore and Montreal, and will aim to create a dedicated space for collaboration by transit agencies, cities, universities, technology centers, start-ups, and industry partners.
The centres, which are designed around Alstom’s ‘local for global’ approach, seek to identify local ideas and partnerships, accelerate the development of creative solutions, and provide a platform to test and incubate new concepts intended for worldwide deployment.
Alstom recently unveiled a set of examples of the results made possible with its Innovation Stations. During InnoTrans 2026 in Berlin, the company demonstrated a system engineered in partnership with Deutsche Bahn, which aims to provide operators with the ability to operate trains remotely from a control centre, as well as a new tool, AI Talk to My Train, which uses artificial intelligence to help maintenance and operations technicians trouble-shoot and resolve issues on rail vehicles with plain-language commands.
Michael Keroullé, President of Alstom Americas, said:To solve today’s mobility challenges we need to bring together the best ideas across sectors, disciplines, and communities.
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.
Once fully operational; Alstom’s US Innovation Station will predominately focus on the development of mobility solutions that improve accessibility, sustainability, resilience, and passenger experience under its leader, Karina Ricks.
Ricks aims to bring expertise in transportation, mobility, infrastructure, urban design and economic development, and, most recently held a position as a partner at the urban strategy consulting firm Cityfi. Elsewhere, Ricks has served as Associate Administrator for Innovation at the Federal Transit Administration, founding Director of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, and Director of Transportation Planning for Washington, DC.
Karina Ricks said:Innovation happens when governments, communities, and industry come together around shared challenges.
Alstom’s newest Innovation Station will create a space where transit agencies, cities, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders can collaborate on practical solutions that improve mobility today while shaping the transportation systems of tomorrow. I am excited to help build partnerships that accelerate innovation, expand opportunity and deliver meaningful benefits for passengers and communities.
