Thales is seeking to divest its rail signalling business “in a potential deal worth 1.5 billion euros or more (US$1.8 billion),” according to a Reuters report based on unidentified “people close to the matter.”
Thales will supply 82 SelTrac™ Vehicle On-Board Controllers (VOBCs) as part of TransLink’s SkyTrain fleet expansion in Vancouver.
Alstom has completed its $6.68 billion (€5.5 billion) acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, cementing its position as the second largest rail manufacturer in the world after CRRC.
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) reported it will temporarily halt delivery of its new Fleet of the Future (FOTF) rapid transit cars from Bombardier Transportation due to two reliability issues.
Mosaic Transit Group (MTG) has awarded Bombardier Transportation a 30-year contract to maintain light rail vehicles and wayside track and catenary systems for the new C$2.5 billion (US$1.95 billion) Finch West LRT project in northwest Toronto. The 11-km (6.8-mile) line is a P3 of Infrastructure Ontario; Metrolinx; and MTG, a joint venture of ACS Infrastructure and AECON that has a DBFM (design, build, finance, maintain) contract.
Officials at New York MTA’s Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) announced Dec. 23 that implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) was complete, just ahead of the Dec. 31, 2020, federal deadline. They teamed with systems integrator Siemens Mobility and Bombardier Transportation on the project.
MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) started returning its Bombardier R179 fleet to revenue service Sept. 23.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye sent warning letters to MTA’s 11 largest suppliers on Sept. 17. “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted a horrific toll in human, social and economic terms across the nation,” he noted in the letters. “I am writing to alert you that because of this financial devastation, many current and all future contracts are in jeopardy without an injection of $12 billion in emergency federal aid.”
Alstom says it will “take into account the consequences” of the operating and financial developments at Bombardier Transportation in forthcoming takeover discussions after the company reported an adjusted Ebit loss of $383 million in the second quarter of 2020.
The European Commission (EC) has approved Alstom’s bid to take over rival Bombardier Transportation, a move which will create the second largest manufacturer in the rail sector behind CRRC.