Siemens scoops Brussels RER order

BELGIUM: SNCB confirmed on March 12 that its board had selected Siemens as preferred bidder to supply up to 300 trainsets for the Brussels RER network. A firm contract will be placed for the first batch of 95 four-car sets, with options that could take the total value of the order to around €1·5bn. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2011.

Siemens will supply a version of its Desiro Main Line EMU, in the second order for its new family of modular trainsets (RG 8.06 p446). Last year Angel Trains ordered 16 three-car sets which Deutsche Regionalbahn will use on the 15-year Mittelrheinbahn concession, with options for a further 84 sets.

It is understood that the Siemens bid for the Brussels RER fleet was around 10% cheaper than its rivals. The other bidders were Alstom with its Coradia Continental design, and Bombardier with a version of the AGC family, of which more than 700 have been ordered to operate in France.

The announcement was greeted with protests in Belgium, because of concern about job losses at Bombardier's BN plant in Brugge, the only remaining domestic rolling stock builder. Bombardier is currently building Flexity Outlook trams for Brussels and assembling double-deck coaches for SNCB under contract to Alstom at Brugge, and insists that the plant is fully occupied, securing 850 jobs until the end of 2009 and 100 until the final Brussels trams are delivered in 2013. Siemens and Bombardier are expected to discuss the option of subcontracting some work to Brugge, although the aluminium bodyshells for the Desiro Main Line units are likely to come from Uerdingen.