French rail operator SNCF has placed an order with Alstom for the supply of 51 double-deck Coradia Duplex distributed-power regional trains with a total of 165 coaches.
Under an industrial workshare agreement with Alstom, Bombardier will participate in the manufacture of 63 of the cars.
The order forms part of the multi-year investment programme launched in September 2000 and financed by French regions, to renew the TER (Regional Express Trains) fleet. The 51 trainsets will be shared between the regions of Nord Pas-de-Calais, Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Côte d’Azur and Picardy.
Private operator Veolia Cargo has also exercised an option to acquire 10 Prima electric freight locomotives, with associated maintenance for a period of eight years. They will be delivered between February and October 2008.
The new locomotives will be able to operate throughout France and Germany, due to their tri-current power supply system. Links between the two countries have been operated using similar trains since the autumn of 2006.
They will be constructed on the Belfort site, which will assemble equipment supplied by the sites of Omans, Tarbes, Villeurbanne and Le Creusot in France and the site at Charleroi in Belgium.
Invinity to build 20MWh flow battery in UK
A surprising comment for someone who (I think you´ve said in the past) worked in the industry. National Grid have a variety of reserve service schemes...