The deal marks SNTF's entry into the joint venture, and the national railway will take a 10% stake in the business, with Ferrovial reducing its shareholding from 41% to 31%. Alstom and EMA will continue to hold 49% and 10% respectively.
According to Alstom, SNTF plans to order a further 98 Coradia Polyvalent bi-mode (diesel and electric) multiple units as part of its plan to expand and modernise the network. Last year SNTF awarded Alstom an initial contract to supply 17 six-car Coradia Polyvalent sets, which will be delivered from January 2018 onwards. These trains will be built at Alstom's Reichshoffen plant in eastern France, which is currently producing similar Régiolis multiple units for the French regions.
Cital was established in 2010 to assemble and maintain Citadis LRVs for new light rail lines in Algerian cities. Under the latest agreement, the joint venture's facility at Annaba will be expanded from 46,400m2 to 190,000m2 with an engineering department, production lines, and a maintenance depot.
The plant will have capacity to assemble one Coradia set per month.
Expansion of the facility is expected to directly create around 270 jobs, in addition to the 240 already employed at Annaba. Alstom says it will provide training and transfer skills and technology for production and maintenance of the trains.
