BELGIUM: The board of national passenger operator SNCB has reconfirmed its selection of CAF as preferred bidder for the AM30 contract to supply electric and battery-electric multiple-units.
Negotiation will now continue to finalise a framework contract covering the supply of trains totalling up to 170 000 seats, with an initial €1·695bn base commitment for 54 000 seats.
Delayed procurement
At the end of 2022 SNCB called tenders for a 12-year framework agreement covering the supply of 160 km/h 3 kV DC units which would allow it to replace much of its older rolling stock with a smaller number of modern designs.
CAF was selected as preferred bidder on February 28 2025. The operator said CAF had offered the best price to quality ratio, with its higher-quality proposal beating a lower-priced offer.
The selection of the Spanish company attracted political criticism because Alstom has factories in Brugge and Charleroi, but SNCB said European Union procurement rules prevented it from preferring local production. Alstom challenged SNCB’s decision, and the administrative court put the contract award on hold pending a re-evaluation.
CAF confirmed
On July 23 SNCB said that following further legal and technical analysis, its original ranking of CAF, Siemens Mobility and Alstom had remained unchanged.
The SNCB board said that all three bidders had mentioned the involvement of a local service provider, and invited CAF to pursue this option. The board will also ask CAF to confirm that its activities comply with international law and human rights.
- Go deeper: Subscribers can read an in-depth article on SNCB’s rolling stock strategy from the April 2023 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine.
