With the acquisition of the Swiss company Fretus AG, Klefenz is expanding its service portfolio to include tunnel rehabilitation, special civil engineering, and injection work. Klefenz is becoming one of the few providers to cover all railway infrastructure trades in Germany and Switzerland from a single source.
Effective September 2, 2025, Klefenz GmbH is acquiring Fretus AG, based in Bad Zurzach (Switzerland). This expands the company's service range to include tunnel rehabilitation, special civil engineering, injection work, and ballast bonding. Clients can now benefit from a full-service provider that delivers all relevant railway construction services in Germany and Switzerland from a single source. The acquisition adds around 30 highly specialized employees to the Klefenz Group.
The acquisition fills a clear gap in the service portfolio. For years, Klefenz has been an established specialist in track superstructure work, trackside cable and civil engineering, signaling and safety technology, and the expansion of modern fiber-optic infrastructure.
Previously, specialized trades within and beneath the track bed were missing, particularly tunnel rehabilitation, structural maintenance, and injection technology. These are precisely the areas that have been the core competence for over 25 years of Fretus AG, which has established itself as a specialist for railway-related construction work in Switzerland.
The merger of these two specialized companies creates a powerful, full-service provider for railway infrastructure. From track rehabilitation and tunnel maintenance to trackside cable and civil engineering, as well as specialized services like special civil engineering, injection technology, and ballast bonding, clients will now receive integrated solutions from a single source. At the same time, the Bad Zurzach location provides Klefenz with an established Swiss base and access to a highly specialized market: the Swiss rail network runs underground for around 800 kilometers—a segment in which Fretus has been a specialist for over two decades.
The acquisition offers concrete operational advantages for clients. Instead of awarding multiple trades individually and coordinating interfaces between subcontractors, railway construction projects can now be planned, tendered, and executed with a single point of contact. This significantly reduces coordination efforts, shortens project timelines, and minimizes interface risks.
This is particularly relevant for cross-border rail corridors between Germany and Switzerland: Klefenz and Fretus cover the entire service spectrum in both markets without the need for changing providers at the border, which previously led to delays and additional costs. For complex rehabilitation projects where superstructure, cable work, and tunnel maintenance overlap, this creates seamless processes with single-source project accountability for the first time.
"In Fretus, we have more than just a partner; we have a team that connects—across borders, both personally and technically."
"The combination of technology and expertise forms the backbone of our capabilities. Our employees are highly available and are characterized by their great flexibility and deep expertise."
Are you looking for a partner for your next civil engineering, fiber optic, or railway construction project in the High Rhine region or Central Germany? Or would you like to become part of our team? In either case, you can expect short communication channels, direct contact with management, and fair conditions.
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