Bombardier in line for metro
Canadian rail and aerospace group Bombardier will compete with German industrial conglomerate Siemens in a tender to build the second line of the Warsaw metro.
"It's a very interesting project," said Janusz Kućmin, business development manager at Bombardier Polska. "We are waiting for the specifications of the tender to see what type of product will be required, but we can already say we are very interested in the Warsaw metro."
Next month, Warsaw City Hall will choose one of six consortia that entered its tender for a financial adviser to decide how the second line will be funded. The tender follows its decision in June this year to use private funding to complete the city's second metro line, slated to cost .2.07 billion.
According to City Hall Spokeswoman Izabela Tomaszewska, the tender to find a company to build the metro will be scheduled after the appointment of a financial adviser.
Kućmin said Bombardier, which produces rolling stock, signaling and control systems in Poland, would look to its capital division to arrange finance if the city's financial advisor decides that the new metro line is to be a turnkey project, giving overall control to one company.
As well as bids from Siemens and Bombardier, industry observers expect interest from French transport group Alstom, following its successful bid to supply trains for the first metro line. Siemens will have an advantage because of its purchase of Czech rail company CKD, which manufactures rolling stock in line with the Russian standard used in Warsaw's first metro line, said Siemens Polska Spokesman Karol Szyndzielorz. Kućmin said the standards established by the existing line will not be a problem for Bomabardier. "There are indications that the vehicles for the second line will not have to be identical to those in use today," Kućmin said.
Bombardier has completed projects in London, Shanghai, Stockholm and Bucharest and has four factories in Poland, based in Wrocław, Katowice, Warsaw and Łódź with 1,300 employees.
Greg Goodale
