The National Society of Belgian Railways (SNCB) announced, on Wednesday, July 23, to have chosen the Spanish manufacturer CAF, to the detriment of French Alstom and the German Siemens, for a mega contract for the renewal of its train fleet in 2034.
The SNCB Board of Directors has appointed CAF as a “preferential offer” for this project that could be related to the delivery of up to 600 trains, said Belgian Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke.
A first order is related to 180 rowing, or 54,000 seats, for an estimated amount of 1.7 billion euros, and then it can be increased, said SNCB spokesman Tom Guillaume. The minister spoke of a contract of several billion.
A first decision suspended by the State Council
This decision is part of a vast modernization of the SNCB aging rolling stock. It is a matter of building new rowing “AM30”, it is supposed to be delivered in 2029.
The choice of CAF is actually confirmation. The SNCB had already expressed its preference for the Spanish candidate in 2022 in 2022 at the beginning of 2025. But the Belgian State Council had suspended this first decision after an extreme emergency application of Alstom Belgium, one of the unfortunate candidates.
The SNCB said that the decision of its Board of Directors took into account the State Council trial. At the beginning of July at home, Jean-Luc Crucke had been under the fire of the deputies, pointing out the fact that employment in a Belgian site in Alstom, in witches, would be in danger of the loss of this great contract.
The Belgian Government “Takes Note” of the SNCB election
“The very essence of a European market is to select on the basis of general performance, without national preference,” said Jean -luc Crucke, who says “take note of this autonomous decision, according to the European rules”
“Now I am waiting for the SNCB to translate it into a concrete, ambitious and structuring industrial project for the Belgian rail,” he said in a statement. “This market is a unique opportunity to have a limit,” he added, remembering that the objective of the Belgian government was “to increase the modal participation of the railroad by 30% by 2032”.
Faced with the deputies, it had not hidden that the CAF’s proposal was slightly better than that of Alstom in terms of energy consumption, one of the important parameters of the command.
“The command also includes battery trains destined to ultimately replace the current diesel automotive,” the SNCB said. The Belgian operator also said that “the offers presented by the three bidders mentioned the use of local suppliers.”
Source: BFM TV
