What GESTE Engineering does

GESTE Engineering SA is a privately held Swiss engineering consultancy founded in 1999 by Michele Mossi and headquartered in Renens, Switzerland. It delivers multidisciplinary engineering and consulting services across the full project lifecycle of transport infrastructure, organized into five departments (Rail, Urban, Road, Buildings, Innovation) and ten core competency disciplines covering system engineering, signalling and automation, energy, track, vehicles, equipment, RAMS and safety, ventilation and flows, fire safety, and digitalization. The firm's primary customers are public-sector infrastructure owners and operators — including Swiss Federal Railways (CFF), French operators (RATP, SYTRAL, SNCF), Norwegian rail (Bane NOR), Belgian metro authorities (STIB), and Swiss federal and cantonal road authorities (OFROU) — engaged through competitive tenders or direct appointment for studies, design, safety certification, system integration, testing, and commissioning work.

GESTE's principal technical differentiator is a suite of proprietary numerical-simulation tools developed internally and validated against the European Transaero research program and real-scale tunnel tests. These include TNT (Tunnel Nets & Trains), a 1D compressible Navier–Stokes solver for pressure-wave, fire and smoke, and evacuation analysis in tunnels; TunClim, a 2x1D thermodynamic solver for long-term air- and rock-temperature evolution in deep tunnel networks; GESTRAC, a traction-current simulation tool for substation and catenary sizing; and NSMB-TNT, a coupled 3D/1D CFD software co-developed with EPFL and an international NSMB research consortium. The firm operates seven offices across Switzerland (Renens, Berne, Bellinzona), France (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse), and Belgium (Brussels).

Revenue is generated entirely through negotiated, project-based professional services fees for engineering and consulting mandates, with no standardized pricing and no disclosed product or subscription revenue. Customer acquisition is sales-led and tied to public-procurement or direct-engagement processes for major infrastructure works. The firm maintains an active R&D posture through its long-standing EPFL partnership and through innovation work that includes the Virgin Hyperloop First Manned Demonstration (with CERTIFER) and a 2024 cooperation agreement with Hardt Hyperloop.

Name

GESTE Engineering

Legal name

GESTE Engineering SA

Website

https://geste.group

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

GESTE Engineering SA is a privately held Swiss engineering consultancy founded in 1999, providing multidisciplinary design, safety, and system-integration services for railway, urban, and road transport infrastructure to public-sector operators across Switzerland, France, and Belgium using proprietary aerodynamic and thermodynamic simulation tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lausanne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consultancy Services: GESTE Engineering generates revenue through the provision of specialized engineering consultancy services covering the full project lifecycle — from preliminary studies and design through to testing and commissioning — for railway, urban, and road transport infrastructure. Revenue is project-based and derived from fees for expert engineering services rendered to infrastructure owners, operators, and contractors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

GESTE Engineering is a Swiss engineering consultancy providing multi-disciplinary services across the full lifecycle of transport infrastructure projects — from preliminary studies and design to testing and commissioning — for railway, urban, road, and building clients. Its services span system engineering, signalling and automation, RAMS and safety, ventilation and aerodynamic flows, energy, track, vehicles, equipment, and fire safety, supported by proprietary in-house simulation software (TNT, TunClim, GESTRAC, NSMB-TNT) developed over decades for tunnel aerodynamics, thermodynamics, and traction-current analysis.

Product overview

GESTE Engineering SA is a Swiss engineering consulting firm specializing in mobility and security, particularly in rail, urban, road, and building transport engineering. The company offers a portfolio of proprietary simulation software tools (TNT, TunClim, GESTRAC, NSMB-TNT) alongside comprehensive engineering services organized into departments (Rail, Urban, Road, Buildings, Innovation) and core competencies (SYS, SIG, ENE, TRK, VEH, EQM, SAF, FLW, FIR). The software tools are developed in-house and used internally to deliver engineering consulting services, with TNT being the primary aerodynamic solver for tunnel applications and TunClim handling thermodynamic simulations for deep tunnel networks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• GESTE's TNT solver was validated against the European Transaero research program and real-scale tests in the Lausanne M2 metro, Terranuova tunnel (Italy), and Stanton tunnel (UK), showing excellent agreement.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CERTIFERcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering collaborated with CERTIFER on the Virgin Hyperloop First Manned Demonstration, contributing safety and vehicle engineering expertise. This was a landmark project in hyperloop technology validation.
• Emch+Berger AGcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering worked in a joint consortium (groupment) with Emch+Berger AG as safety engineer for the new CEVA railway link (Cornavin–Eaux-Vives–Annemasse) between Switzerland and France.
• SYSTRAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering, in consortium with SYSTRA, was commissioned for the project management of railway infrastructure connections for the multimodal terminal at Grand Port Maritime du Havre.
• Hardt HyperloopcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering signed a cooperation agreement with Hardt Hyperloop in 2024, continuing its involvement in hyperloop technology development following the Virgin Hyperloop collaboration.
• IG Drehscheibe (Boess Engineering AG, SABO Software & Engineering GmbH)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering participated in the IG Drehscheibe consortium alongside Boess Engineering AG and SABO Software & Engineering GmbH for the further development of the Basel port railway. GESTE is responsible for planning safety installations according to current standards.
• EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGESTE Engineering has collaborated with EPFL since 1996 on the development and validation of the NSMB-TNT simulation tools. The firm has a long-standing research partnership with EPFL including doctoral projects and CTI-sponsored research programs on tunnel aerodynamics and fire simulation.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Egis: Egis is a major French engineering group with broad transport, energy, and urban infrastructure capabilities. It overlaps with GESTE on rail, urban transit, and tunnel engineering but at much larger scale and broader scope, making it a broad incumbent rather than a niche specialist peer.
• AFRY: AFRY is a Nordic-origin engineering and design consultancy with a meaningful rail and transport infrastructure practice across Northern and Central Europe. Comparable technical scope to GESTE in rail systems, signalling, and tunnels but at much larger scale.
• Arcadis: Arcadis is a global design and engineering consultancy with significant mobility and rail practices across Europe. Competes with GESTE on European transport tenders but operates at substantially larger scale and broader service portfolio.
• WSP: WSP is a global professional services firm with a large European transport and rail advisory practice. Overlaps with GESTE on rail, tunnel, and urban transit consulting but competes as part of a much broader infrastructure, environment, and property portfolio.

Direct peers

• Setec Group: Setec is a French engineering group with a substantial rail, urban transport, and tunnel practice (setec ferroviaire, setec tpi). Comparable to GESTE in delivering multidisciplinary transport consulting across French-speaking markets, including metro, high-speed rail, and tunnel projects.
• CERTIFER: CERTIFER is a European rail certification, assessment, and engineering body specializing in safety, RAMS, and independent safety assessment. GESTE and CERTIFER are direct peers in rail safety engineering and have collaborated on the Virgin Hyperloop first manned demonstration, evidencing closely aligned competencies in safety certification for transport systems.
• Emch+Berger AG: Emch+Berger is a mid-sized Swiss engineering consultancy with strong mobility and infrastructure practices. GESTE partnered with Emch+Berger as joint safety engineer on the CEVA rail link, evidencing that the two firms compete for and share Swiss transport engineering mandates at comparable scope.
• SYSTRA: SYSTRA is one of the world's largest dedicated rail and urban transport engineering consultancies, headquartered in France. GESTE and SYSTRA are direct competitors on rail infrastructure and have also been consortium partners (e.g., Grand Port Maritime du Havre), confirming closely overlapping service scope across railway, urban, and tunnel engineering.

Emerging players

• ILF Consulting Engineers: ILF is an Austria-headquartered engineering consultancy with strong tunnel and transport infrastructure expertise. Comparable to GESTE in tunnel aerodynamics, ventilation, and rail engineering, but with a different geographic center of gravity and somewhat larger scale.

Others

• TÜV SÜD: TÜV SÜD is a global testing, inspection, and certification body with a dedicated rail division covering safety assessment, RAMS, and signalling certification. Adjacent to GESTE's RAMS and safety practice rather than a direct competitor on multi-disciplinary transport engineering projects.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/geste-engineering
• Xx.com/geste

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GESTE Engineering