Alstom won the contract in competition with Bombardier, Siemens and Vossloh, although Siemens withdrew before the final stage of bidding.
The contract will come into force in January and Alstom will initially use Israel Railways' depots in Lod and Haifa until its own purpose-built facility is completed three years from now. Alstom will recruit and train about 100 people, mainly in Israel, for the project.
This is the second attempt by Israel Railways to outsource train maintenance. A contract with Bombardier had to be cancelled after strong pressure from Israel Railways' workers committee forced it to agree to restrict the proportion of rolling stock which can be maintained by third parties to 30%.
