IBM's artificial intelligence arm is striking deals with the French railway to help it head off costly repairs, and with the world's largest car-parts maker Bosch to create cars and appliances that can self-order worn parts. The deals with France's SNCF national rail system, Robert Bosch GmbH, and payment processor Visa Inc., were announced Thursday alongside the opening of IBM's $200 million global headquarters for industrial applications of software in Munich, and are part of a push to spread its Watson computing service in Europe. Watson and IBM's $18 billion "cognitive computing" group are a rare bright spot amid a years-long slump in sales and earnings, and the company is counting on the unit as its long-term growth driver. IBM has called Watson a connector across all its services and software and has announced a large number of deals to build out Watson-related projects. A dozen BMW engineers are also working with International Business Machines Corp. on site to outfit the auto-maker's $138,000 i8 hybrid sports car with controls that respond to a drivers' voices and make recommendations for route changes and stops based on fuel levels and the weather.