Sersa (
Soudage électrique des rails S.A.) was founded in 1948 in
Neuchâtel by Arnold Schnyder as a trackside railway maintenance company, it initially operated on the rail lines around
Zurich, Switzerland. Arnold Schnyder's son Konrad took over the company and expanded the business to cover track infrastructure work throughout Switzerland, as well as establishing numerous subsidiaries abroad. In July 2013, the
Universale-Bau track and construction business of the insolvent Alpine group was purchased. In January 2015, it became the sole owner of
Sersa Total Track Ltd after purchasing the outstanding shares from Tim Mann. During September 2012, it was announced that Sersa Group would merge with Rhomberg Rail Holding Group of Austria, to form Swiss-based international rail technology company
Rhomberg Sersa Rail Holdings; at the time, the combined business employed near 1,600 personnel worldwide and generated revenues of roughly $450 million annually. During late 2014, Sersa Group acquired several rail infrastructure activities in mainland Europe that had been formerly owned by the British-based infrastructure company
Balfour Beatty. In the mid 2010s, it created a
joint venture with the British infrastructure support specialist
Amey. In September 2018,
Vossloh and the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group were establishing a joint venture to cooperate on matters pertaining to infrastructure competence. During October 2021, Balfour Beatty announced that it was selling its U.S. track solutions operations to the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group in exchange for $7.25 million; the division was subsequently rebranded as
Rhomberg Sersa North America and made the company one of only a few European rail contractors to have a significant and permanent presence in the United States. In April 2023, it was announced that Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group UK and Charles Brand Ltd had formed a new joint venture,
Rhomberg Sersa Charles Brand JV, which will provide complementary civil engineering and permanent way services to the UK rail industry. That same month, Sersa Group reorganised and merged its Australian subsidiaries,
RKR Engineering and
Rhomberg Rail Australia, to create
Rhomberg Sersa Australia. ==Operations==