SNCF confirms €550 million order

’s national railway,

, has confirmed to

two orders, worth a total of €550 million euros, for TGV Duplex trainsets and power cars.

The first order calls for the delivery of 28 TGV Duplex trainsets (24 trainsets with power cars and four trainsets without power cars). This is the last option of the master agreement signed in October 2000 for the supply of 82 trainsets by an Alstom/Bombardier consortium led by Alstom.

The 28 trainsets will join the TGV Duplex fleet which runs mainly on the TGV Méditerranée line between Paris and Marseille.

The second order calls for the supply of eight TGV power cars for the TGV Est network. These power cars form part of the master agreement drawn up in January 2003 for 30 power cars and 31 options. The TGV of the eastern network will run between Paris, through eastern France, southwest Germany, Luxemburg and Switzerland as of mid 2007.

Alstom’s sites in La Rochelle, Tarbes, Villeurbanne, Ornans, Le Creusot and Reichshoffen in France will be involved in both contracts.