$239 million order for Bombardier

announced today that it received an additional order for 48 high-capacity trains AGC type (Autorail Grande Capacite) from the French National Railways (

). The contract is valued at approximately $239 million.

The trains will be delivered between February 2007 and March 2009. Bombardier will manufacture the AGC trains at its Crespin plant, in the Valenciennes region of France, and it is expected that this order will increase the manufacturing rate from 8 trains to 10 trains per month.

Deliveries of the AGC trains started in January 2004 and 60 trains are currently in service. This firm order follows the announced selection of Bombardier by SNCF in September 2001 for the supply of 500 high-capacity regional trains AGC type for the French Regions.

In December 2001, a first firm order of 192 was announced, followed by three additional options, one for 73 trains in February 2003, one for 14 trains in March 2003 and one for 100 trains in January 2005. With the current order, the total number of firm orders from SNCF for high-capacity regional trains AGC type is 427.

The AGC can run on either diesel fuel, electricity or a combination of the two, and also on a dual mode/dual voltage (diesel fuel and electricity 1.5 kV and 25 kV). The new order from the SNCF includes, for the first time, dual mode/dual voltage trains.