The soap opera concerning the order of 146 future RER B trains continues.
Who will emerge victorious from this incredible showdown?
Certainly not the million users of this “sick line”, who still experienced 24 hours of hardship following an electrical incident.
The railway manufacturer Alstom "must honor the contract" awarded to its competitors Bombardier Transport - which it has since taken over - and the Spanish CAF for the supply of new trainsets intended for the RER B, repeated the president of Ile-de- France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, this Friday.
The French group on Thursday withdrew Bombardier's offer that it does not consider viable, and withdrew from the summary proceedings that it had initiated at the Paris administrative court on the tender procedure, " which no longer had to be ”according to an Alstom spokesperson.
"Alstom must perform this contract"
"Alstom having waived its appeals and the judge having ruled, the call for tenders procedure has been validated, so there is nothing to prevent RATP and SNCF from signing the contract with the holders of the 'best-priced offer, namely Alstom-Bombardier and CAF,' explained Valérie Pécresse.
"Alstom must perform this contract and deliver the new trains, so much awaited by hundreds of thousands of RER B users", she underlined after a meeting with the RATP and the SNCF, for which they are intended. the trains.
RATP, SNCF Voyageurs and Ile-de-France Mobilités published a joint press release in the evening.
They “reaffirmed today their determination to execute this contract, for the benefit of Ile-de-France residents.
Since Alstom's decision to withdraw Bombardier's final offer is irregular, the Bombardier-CAF consortium remains fully committed.
In addition, Alstom having itself withdrawn from its last two appeals before the administrative court before today's hearing, no further obstacle prevented the signing of the contract by the RATP-SNCF Voyageurs group ”.
Consequently, the consortium, "with the agreement of its organizing authority Ile-de-France Mobilités, has therefore decided to sign and then notify the contract to the Bombardier-CAF consortium".
A maneuver to oust a competitor?
Bombardier Transport and the Spanish CAF were selected on January 13, faced with the (more expensive) Alstom offer, to supply 146 RER trains for 2.56 billion euros, the delivery of the first trains being scheduled for the end of 2025. But Alstom has multiplied its remedies, managing to delay the signing of the contract until its takeover of Bombardier Transport, effective since January 29.
After offering mediation, he withdrew the offer from his new acquisition.
"The technical and financial conditions of the Bombardier-CAF consortium's offer do not correspond to market prices and do not allow this contract to be executed without significant risks for the financier, the operator, the travelers and for our company", the group explained Thursday.
But several connoisseurs of the railway industry see in these Alstom remedies the desire to prevent the Spanish manufacturer CAF from gaining ground on the French market, thanks to its more advantageous prices, lower by 10% to 30%.
"No comment" from the government
When asked whether they will go to court to force Alstom to honor Bombardier's word, Valérie Pécresse simply replied: "We'll see".
And promised a "progress report" to the board of directors of Ile-de-France Mobilités Thursday.
Earlier this Friday, a spokesperson for Alstom had said that the group "remains open to discussion", recalling that its offer - the one that lost - "still remains valid".
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
Asked about the subject during a trip to Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, contented himself with saying that he had "no comment" to make " at this stage ".
