Bombardier To Build Railcars For Chinese Firm

Company signed a contract with a Chinese rail company to provide 246 metro cars and training for $138 million.

BERLIN (CP) -- Bombardier Transportation announced Friday it has signed a contract with a Chinese rail company to provide metro cars and training for US$138 million.

Bombardier will provide Shanghai Rail Transit Line with 246 MOVIA metro cars, spare parts and training for operating staff.

The contract was awarded to Changchun Bombardier Railway Vehicles Company Ltd. and a consortium for the cars' propulsion system consisting of Bombardier Transportation Sweden and Changzhou Railcar Propulsion Engineering R&D Center. The value of the entire contract totals US$291 million.

The new metro cars will be assembled in China while propulsion equipment for the cars will be made in both China and Sweden. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 28 months with completion slated for 2014.

"We are pleased to see that our high quality MOVIA metro trains are recognized for their reliability and performance. In Shanghai, we have delivered more than 700 metro cars to the Metro network to date," said Jianwei Zhang, president and chief country representative of Bombardier in China.

Bombardier said its trains are designed for a maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour and use environmentally-friendly propulsion technology.

The vehicles will also feature energy-efficient air conditioning equipment, passenger information displays and a video surveillance system as requested by Shanghai Rail.

The contract marks the latest in a series of Chinese projects for Bombardier.

The company has also provided mainland China's first fully automated people mover to Beijing International Airport, and is working on giving the country the world's fastest sleeper trains.

Bombardier currently employs more than 3,000 people in China.

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