Belgium halts SNCB's 1.7 billion euros trains order to CAF, Belga reports

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

17/04/2025 15:22

By Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri

April 17 (Reuters) - Belgium's Council of State on Thursday ruled to suspend the fleet order by national railway company SNCB to Spain's CAF CAF.MC, Belga news agency reported on Thursday.

This could open the way for French rival Alstom ALSO.PA to settle itself as new preferred-bidder, Deutsche Bank analyst Gael de-Bray said ahead of the ruling.

Winning this contract, the biggest-ever awarded by SNCB,  would secure the workload of Alstom's Bruges factory for a few more years and avoid the restructuring, if not closure, of the facility, he added.

CAF was appointed as the preferred bidder against Alstom and Siemens at the end of February, a decision later confirmed by the board of directors of SNCB.

Following SNCB's announcement, Alstom and Siemens separately started a legal action requesting to suspend SNCB's decision.

The auditor of the Council of State then recommended for the decision to be suspended, prompting positive reactions both from the unions and politics.

SNCB's tender consists of a first batch valued at 1.7 billion euros ($1.93 billion), with optional batches potentially bringing the total contract value to 5 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8804 euros)

 (Reporting by Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri, editing by Bart Meijer)

 ((alban.kacher@thomsonreuters.com ; +48 58 769 65 87))