EUROPE: Alstom has agreed to divest its Coradia Polyvalent and Talent 3 multiple-unit families to CAF, along with the production facilities at Reichshoffen in northern France.
Alstom had offered to divest both businesses in order to obtain clearance from the European Commission for its acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, which was concluded in January 2021. The company had earlier been in negotiation with both CAF and Škoda Transportation as potential buyers.
Branded as Régiolis by SNCF, the Coradia Polyvalent range of electric, diesel and bi-mode multiple-units is assembled at the former De Dietrich Reichshoffen plant, where Alstom is currently developing its first hydrogen fuel cell hybrid trainsets. The Talent 3 family inherited from Bombardier Transportation was developed at the Hennigsdorf plant near Berlin.
Announcing the agreement on November 24, Alstom said the divestiture was expected to be completed between April and September 2022. The transaction is subject to completion of ‘the applicable social processes and consultations with employee representatives’ bodies’ as well as regulatory approvals. The company told Railway Gazette that it currently employs around 740 people at the Reichshoffen facility.
Divestment of the Talent 3 product range covers the design and intellectual property rights, together with the related IT. However, it does not include any physical assets or production facilities at Hennigsdorf, nor any of the current commercial contracts. Alstom currently has around 100 people working on the train, and anticipates that up to 25 designers and engineers may opt to transfer to CAF on a voluntary basis.
CAF said the transaction would enable it to continue its development, ‘thanks to the skills and know-how of the concerned sites’. The Spanish rolling stock manufacturer already operates in France, having previously acquired the former Soulé plant at Bagnères-de-Bigorre in Hautes-Pyrénées. The company is currently building inter-city trainsets for SNCF and earlier this year was selected to supply 146 suburban trainsets for Paris RER Line B in a consortium with Bombardier.
The acquisition of the Talent 3 platform is expected to boost the group’s activities in the German and central European markets. CAF is currently active in 40 countries around the world, with production plants in Spain, France, the UK, Poland, Brazil, Mexico and the USA.
Welcoming the announcement as ‘the culmination of months of negotiations’, the President of Grand Est region Jean Rottner said transferring the plant to ‘a group that has high-level technical expertise and a major commercial base’ meant that ‘Reichshoffen can hope to remain the industrial flagship it has always been’.
Orders placed by Alstom would ensure a workload at the Alsace plant until mid-2026, Rottner explained. ’The consortium set up for the production of Regiolis trains, notably hydrogen-powered’, would put Reichshoffen in ‘a favourable position to seize the opportunities for new orders expected in the coming months’, he believed.
