Holding the tram makes your mouth water

Bombardier Transport (Alstom) employees at La Pocatière in Bas-Saint-Laurent believe they are in the best position, 1:15 from Quebec, to manufacture trains for the capital’s future tram line.

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join Newspaper, head of the personnel union, Claude Michaud, is already scoffing at the idea of ​​winning this lucrative contract, which could provide work for the plant for several years.

Remember that French multinational Alstom — which completed the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation in January 2021 — will battle German group Siemens (which also has facilities in Canada) to try to get a contract to design, supply and maintain the equipment. .

The city confirmed earlier this week that both contenders had submitted their applications. If they qualify, they will be invited to participate in a call for proposals that will be launched next February. According to the calendar provided by Quebec City to bidders, the winner should be announced in June.

The contract is expected to be signed and design to begin in September. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in 2023 and operation is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2028.

win the race

“Surely the rest of us, right from the start, want to be in the race and then win the race. We’ve always said it: At La Pocatière, we have the experience, we have the factory, we have the space, we’ve always delivered quality products and we’re close to Quebec City, so I think that’s an advantage for us,” Claude Michaud said on the phone.

“All contracts are crucial,” he insisted, noting that the contract for the Azure train for the Montreal metro had just expired.

Employees are currently delivering trams to Toronto and are preparing to “begin soon” another contract for Vancouver’s SkyTrain, as well as another contract for New Jersey Transit trains.

Currently, approximately 300 people work at the plant according to the union, but there may be more.

$56 million to modernize the factory

Last year, the Quebec government granted a $56 million loan to modernize the La Bocaterre plant.

This loan could turn into a subsidy if Alstom maintains a minimum of about 400 jobs until 2026 and 350 between 2026 and 2029.

The Canadian content requirement (25% of materials and final assembly in Canada) for the Quebec City project give much hope to the La Pocatière Consortium.

At both Alstom and Siemens, communications managers have called before Newspaper In the past two days they said they were unable to comment on the operation under way in Quebec.

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