France’s Alstom to bid in Turkish rail tender, sees 100 mln euro investment

ISTANBUL

France’s Alstom plans to bid in a tender for high-speed rail in Turkey and would spend 100 million euros on a production plant, the head of the transport group’s Turkish unit told Reuters on March 3.

Arban Çıtak also said that Alstom has chosen a local partner for the bid, but has yet to announce the partner’s name. 

Rival firms such as Canada’s Bombardier Inc have also indicated interest in the tender.

Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım has said Turkey plans to open a tender to acquire 80 high-speed trains by the middle of this year, adding that the expected value of the investment will be around $5-6 billion. 

“Our ministry has been working on a tender to buy 80 high-speed trains. This will be an investment worth around $5-6 billion. The tender may be held by the middle of this year,” Yıldırım told journalists at the opening of an international railways, infrastructure and logistics fair in Istanbul on March 3.

The ministry plans to acquire a total of 106 trains in line with a plan to extend the country’s high-speed train network.