ALSTOM and AnsaldoBreda, a Finmeccanica Group company, have signed a strategic and industrial partnership for the engineering, production and marketing of single deck high-speed trains. This agreement covers both very high-speed trains (more than 300 km/h), and high speed trains (up to 250 km/h), meeting the new European standards for interoperability.

In the very high-speed segment, it includes the articulated AGV a new innovative train under development, based on ALSTOM technological platform for interregional links on very high-speed lines. The TGV* Duplex (double deck) is not part of this agreement. In the high speed segment, the agreement includes the new PENDOLINO, a tilting train produced by ALSTOM, which can run at high speed in curves on conventional tracks, and the AnsaldoBreda train Holland-Belgium. All the trains both for ALSTOM and AnsaldoBreda will meet the new European Interperability standards.

This partnership, which brings together the most important companies in high-speed train travel, will explore international business opportunities, offering a complete product portfolio and a high level of technology that can compete on all markets.

The trains will be produced in the factories of both partners. In Italy, the sites involved are Savigliano and Sesto for ALSTOM, and Pistoia and Naples for AnsaldoBreda. In France, the ALSTOM industrial sites of La Rochelle, Le Creusot and Tarbes are also involved in this co-operation. The first joint new products resulting from this strategic partnership between ALSTOM and AnsaldoBreda will be ready for commissioning early 2009.

“With this agreement – Giorgio Zappa, General Manager of Finmeccanica, declared – AnsaldoBreda reinforces its presence in a high value market in strong expansion. It will also consolidate its business, by exploiting the technological capabilities, developed in more than 100 year of activities world-wide. This co-operation will also have a relevant impact on the future development programs of Italian railways”.

“Thanks to this co-operation – ALSTOM Transport President Philippe Mellier stated – ALSTOM intends to strengthen its leadership in the high speed and very high speed segments. Our company contributed to the history of high speed, since the first TGV* in 1981. Our challenge is to face up together with our partners a market rich in opportunities and rapidly meet the clients’ demands”.

This agreement is highly relevant considering that the rolling stock market, on the high-speed segment, is expected to grow strongly thanks to the considerable investments foreseen in the main countries interested in high-speed connections. Between 2000 and 2004, the world’s high speed & very high speed train market (excluding Japan) was worth on average 1.6 billion Euro per year. It is expected to grow by close to 50% up to 2008.

*TGV is an SNCF trademark