Yamato Kogyo Salix joint venture is moving ahead after Martinus Group agreed to sell 50% of Salix Products to Japan’s Yamato Kogyo Co. for $40 million, as reported by Rail Express. Martinus will keep the other 50% and operate Salix as a joint venture with Yamato once the transaction is completed.

Yamato Kogyo Salix joint venture: 50% Salix stake
A new 50:50 joint venture has been established between Martinus Group and Yamato Kogyo Co. Image: Martinus

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

The partners describe the deal as a strategic partnership that pairs Salix’s 20 years of global turnout and trackwork delivery expertise with Yamato’s 80 years of Japanese world-class steelmaking and advanced rail manufacturing capability. Yamato also set out the investment and joint venture structure in an update from the Yamato Kogyo Group. Together, they say the platform is designed to scale internationally for turnout and trackwork solutions.

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What the Yamato Kogyo Salix joint venture means for Salix?

Salix Chief Executive Officer Mark Fulford described the partnership as a major milestone for Salix and Martinus Group. He said combining Salix’s delivery track record with Yamato’s experience and heritage of Japanese manufacturing excellence creates a world-class platform for turnout and trackwork supply. Fulford added that the structure positions Salix to support the next generation of high-speed, heavy-haul, metro and light rail projects across the world.

Yamato Kogyo President Mikio Kobayashi said the company is honoured to launch the joint venture. He noted that the turnout and trackwork products business has been central to Yamato’s origins and has supported railway transportation for many decades, remaining an important area for the company today. Kobayashi said the partners intend to combine strengths to contribute to safe and reliable rail infrastructure in Australia and worldwide.

Turnout and trackwork solutions and standards certification

Salix brings over two decades of specialised experience across the design, supply, quality assurance and delivery of high-performance turnout and trackwork systems certified to EN (European), AREMA (American) and AS (Australian) standards, with Salix outlining its standards coverage on the Salix Products rail specifications page.

Salix and Yamato say they can jointly support the full spectrum of rail applications across government and mining-backed rail infrastructure programs, including high-speed passenger rail, heavy-haul freight rail, metro transit systems and light rail networks. The companies also state that Salix and Yamato turnout and trackwork solutions have been successfully supplied into major rail programs across Japan, Australia, India, the Middle East, Chile and New Zealand.

Japanese world-class manufacturing capability and expansion platform

Founded in 1944, Yamato is described as a globally respected Japanese manufacturing group with deep expertise across high-precision steel production, turnouts and special trackwork manufacturing, rail components and fastening systems, and large-scale industrial supply chains.

Yamato’s vertically integrated manufacturing platform is presented as enabling full control over quality, metallurgy, tolerances and lifecycle performance — a critical capability for modern high-speed and heavy-haul rail corridors.

Strategically, the Salix–Yamato partnership is structured to accelerate global market entry for turnout and trackwork solutions, deliver locally compliant manufacturing solutions for government and mining-backed rail programs, and provide integrated engineering, manufacturing and supply chain delivery. Together, Salix and Yamato will operate as a single unified platform for turnout and trackwork solutions across international rail markets, offering governments, operators and mining-backed rail owners a high-confidence alternative to fragmented offshore supply models supported by Japanese manufacturing precision and Martinus Group’s international delivery capability.

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