Alstom accepts $3.1bn contract to supply new trains for RER B line

French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has ended a months-long dispute and accepted the $3.1bn (€2.56bn) contract to supply trains for the RER Line B.

Paris transport authority Île‐de‐France Mobilités and operators RATP and SNCF Voyageurs awarded the contract to a consortium comprising railway manufacturers CAF and Bombardier in February.

The scope of the contract involves the supply of 146 new trains, which will replace the MI79 and MI84 type trainsets that are currently in circulation.

This contract is believed to have sparked a dispute and subsequent legal wrangling between suppliers and rail operators, which are among Alstom’s biggest customers, BloombergQuint reported.

Later, Alstom completed the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation and rejected the deal, saying that the offer has risks for the manufacturer, operator, financial backers and mass-transit users.

The discussions that have taken place over past weeks with Alstom had allowed the Alstom-Bombardier group to understand the terms and ‘dispel its concerns’ of the contract and has enabled the Alstom-Bombardier / CAF consortium to execute the agreement.

The 80km-long RER Line B, one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional, is a hybrid suburban commuter and a rapid transit system that serves Paris and the Île-de-France suburbs.

The first train is scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2025.

Danish state-owned railway operator DSB decided to award a $3.2bn contract to Alstom to supply electric trains.

The scope of the contract will involve the supply of 100 new electric trains, each of which will have five carriages and are being built around Alstom’s Coradia Stream platform.