MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. has won the contract to supply Israel Railways with 62 electric locomotives, with an option to buy 32 more, a deal worth 1 billion shekels (over US $260 million), the state-owned corporation announced on Aug. 6.
Israel Railways said it expects to take delivery of the initial order in 2017. The trains will mainly be used on a new fast rail line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The Montreal-headquartered company bid against two other international firms: Alstrom of France and the Chinese companies CSR and CNR. However, the two Chinese companies merged recently and were disqualified from the tender.
Bombardier has been doing business with Israel Railways since 1999, but this is their largest single deal. Bombardier has supplied about 350 double-decker passenger coaches to Israel Railways, which run mainly in suburban Tel Aviv.
In 2010, Bombardier entered into two contracts worth a total of $239 million for the most recently made coaches. They are manufactured at Bombardier Transportation’s headquarters in Germany and the company’s plant in Dimona, Israel.
Israeli Railways is in the midst of the multibillion-dollar process of electrifying its system to reduce noise and pollution.
Israel Railways’ chief executive officer Boaz Tzafrir said of the most recent partnership with Bombardier: “Converting 420 kilometres of railway tracks so that they will be operated by electricity will completely change the face of the Israel Railways company.
“The transition to an electric railway, as operated in most advanced countries, will be a major leap forward in everything regarding railway operations and will be the main factor in the future ability of the railways to continue growing and reaching new destinations.”
In a statement, Bombardier said, “We thank Israel Railways for its confidence in us. We will make every effort so that the people of Israel will receive locomotives that serve it loyally in the complex electrification process.”
The new locomotives ordered will be able to pull up to eight double-decker coaches or 12 single carriages, transporting up to 1,400 passengers at speeds reaching 160 km per hour.
Israel Railways is now holding a tender for 294 new electric double-decker coaches.
Last month in an interview with Ynetnews, Lutz Bertling, president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Transportation, based in Germany, said the company would never accede to any demand to boycott of Israel for political reasons. Bombardier is present in a number of Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
Bertling said Bombardier has never been asked to boycott Israel, but “requests to boycott Israel are a form of blackmail, and we will never agree to that.”
Bombardier, a publicly traded company that operates around the globe, is better known for its aerospace manufacturing, but it is also one of the largest makers of railway equipment in the world.
Bombardier Transportation spokesperson Marc Laforge told The CJN that the company is making no official comment on the contract until it is signed, which he said is expected to happen in three or four weeks.
“For the time being, we have been selected as the preferred bidder… In legal terms, the tender is still open until the signature,” he said.
“We are very pleased that Israel Railways has placed its confidence in us and that all seems to be moving very positively.”
