The board of directors of the Belgian railway company SNCB has today decided to award the so-called “contract of the century”: a 3.4 billion euro tender to renew the country’s rail fleet, which will involve the delivery of 600 AM30 trains from 2029.
The Basque company CAF is the favourite after being selected in March as the preferred bidder, beating France’s Alstom and Siemens Mobility. The decision, however, has been marked by intense political pressure and judicial appeals. The Belgian Council of State itself even suspended the process due to a lack of transparency in the scoring, although it finally endorsed the initial ranking.
The debate has revolved especially around local employment. Alstom has lobbied using its two plants and 1,900 employees in the country to win the contract. The environmental criteria, considered difficult to measure and unanimously rejected at the last board meeting, were also discussed.
The Minister for Mobility, Jean-Luc Crucke, wants the contract to be awarded quickly. He warns of the risks of a delay: a two-year postponement could result in up to 200 million euros in additional costs and a loss of comfort for users.