Alstom inaugurates bogie plant in Quebec

Alstom Transport on Friday, July 5 inaugurated its new 55,000-square-foot bogie manufacturing plant located in an industrial complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. The plant was built to provide Alstom with a facility to assemble more than 900 bogies for 468 new rubber-tired metro cars being supplied to Société de transport de Montréal (STM) by a joint venture of Bombardier Transportation and Alstom under a C$1.2 billion contract.

The bogie, which has been designed to meet STM’s requirements, includes the drive, braking, and suspension mechanisms. Traction motors that will be integrated into the bogies will come from the Alstom manufacturing center in Hornell, N.Y. The bogies will then be shipped to the Bombardier plant in La Pocatière, where the cars will be mounted on them. Alstom anticipates that the first bogie manufactured in Sorel-Tracy will be completed in the fall of 2013.

A transfer of technology and expertise for the bogies and shock absorbers comes from the Alstom Center of Excellence in Le Creusot, France, to Sorel-Tracy plant. Alstom says it will enable the company “to better address the North American market.” In addition to the bogies, Alstom, through its various sites including the one in Montreal, will be supplying traction, train control, communications and passenger information, and video-surveillance systems for STM’s new metro cars. Over the eight-year span of the contract, more than 300 Alstom employees in Quebec will take part in designing, manufacturing, and commissioning the new cars. Montreal’s metro comprises four lines with a total of 44 miles of track and 68 stations. The metro car fleet logs about 48 million miles per year.

“This technology transfer once again demonstrates Alstom Transport’s ability to localize manufacturing operations to be closer to its customers and users,” said Alstom Transport North America President Guillaume Mehlman. “Beyond this first contract with STM, the Alstom plant in Sorel-Tracy, with its state-of-the-art equipment, will be able to meet the most complex needs of North American public transit corporations.”

“By locating the manufacturing and assembly operations for the bogies in Quebec, Alstom is proud to contribute to the STM’s requirement for 60% Canadian content,” said Alstom Vice President and General Manager, Sorel-Tracy Claude Lambert. “The transfer of technology is part of Alstom’s strategy to address local market needs.”