ISRAEL Railways (IR) signed a contract with Alstom on January 22 for the supply of 96 double-deck coaches, which will enable it to operate eight-car trains with a total capacity of over 1200 seats.
The contract was signed by Mr Andrew DeLeone, president of Alstom's Africa, Middle East and Central Asia region, Alstom Israel CEO, Mr Eran Cohen, IR chairman, Mr Moshe Shimoni, and Mr Moshe Ben-Zaken, general manager at Israel’s transport ministry.
The new Alstom double-deck coaches join a fleet of 580 already in service with IR.
The national operator has also ordered 81 more double-deck EMUs from Siemens Mobility, joining 24 trains currently in service and a further 36 which are expected to be delivered later this year.
Together the orders are worth €1.7bn.
As IR’s national electrification programme progresses, the new EMUs will enable the diesel-hauled Siemens Viaggio Light single-deck coaches to be phased out. They were delivered in 2008 and 2011.
The new Alstom and Siemens fleets will add a further 22 million seats a year on IR services.
Both Ben-Zaken and Shimoni said that the new contract shows Alstom’s faith in the Israeli economy even at a time of war.
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