He left for a tour. According to the RTBF, the Federal Minister of Belgian Mobility indicated that the Board of Directors of CNCB (the Belgian SNC) will meet on July 23 to assign the call to tenders for the production of 600 new conventional trains, half of the operator’s fleet. An important contract estimated at 3.4 billion euros maximum.
What to offer a new opportunity to Alstom to win the bet. Remember that initially, the SNCB had chosen negotiate exclusively with the Spanish cafeteria For this order. A hardly disputed choice by French. Alstom was in fact convinced of being the favorite, particularly thanks to the map of local production and a better offer of mares of more than 100 million euros. The head of Alstom Belgium, Bernard Belvaux, then denounced “the shocking decision” of the public railway company.
Appeal
Then, the French industrialist activated all the political levers to question this decision and had seized the Belgian State Council. By presenting an appeal. An accepted appeal since the call of tenders was suspended in April. The country’s greatest administrative authority considered that the mandatory transparency criterion by public procurement legislation has not been respected and that the method used by the evaluation of offers is not understandable.
In this case, Alstom benefited from the support of the Belgian government. Jean-Luc Crucke, Mobility Minister saying That he did not criticize the CNCB for having chosen CAF, but believes that if the tender had included in the specifications a disposition taking into account the carbon footprint of the construction of the trains, the decision would have been different.
Remember that CAF also won a contract against Alstom for Alstom 150 classic trains For Moroccan railroads (almost 3 billion euros). Alstom However cattle than for 18 TGV. In France, CAF was also chosen to provide new interurban trains (called oxygen) for Bordeaux-Marseille, Paris-Toulouse and Paris-Clermont Ferrand lines.
Source: BFM TV
