The employees of Bombardier Transport (Alstom) in La Pocatière in the Bas-Saint-Laurent believe that they are best placed, 1:15 from Quebec, to manufacture the trains for the future tramway in the capital.
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Joined by The newspaper, the president of the employees’ union, Claude Michaud, is already salivating at the idea of winning this lucrative contract, which could provide work for the plant for several years.
Remember that the French multinational Alstom — which completed the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation in January 2021 — will fight the German group Siemens (which also has facilities in Canada) to try to obtain the contract for the design, supply and maintenance of the equipment. rolling.
The City confirmed earlier this week that both competitors have submitted their applications. If they qualify, they will be invited to participate in a call for proposals to be launched next February. According to the calendar provided by the City of Quebec to the bidders, the winner must be announced in June.
Contract signing and design start are expected in September. Construction of the project is scheduled to begin in 2023 and commissioning is planned for fall 2028.
“It’s certain that the rest of us, from the beginning, we want to be in the race and then win the race. We’ve always said it: At La Pocatière, we have the expertise, we have a factory, we have space, we’ve always delivered quality products and we’re close to Quebec City, so I think that’s an advantage for us,” said Claude Michaud on the phone.
“All contracts are crucial,” he insisted, recalling that the contract for the Azur trains of the Montreal metro had just ended.
Employees are currently working on the delivery of streetcars for Toronto and are preparing to “start soon” another contract for SkyTrain in Vancouver, in addition to another train contract for New Jersey Transit.
Currently, nearly 300 people work at the factory according to the union, but there could be many more.
Last year, the Quebec government granted a $56 million loan to modernize the La Pocatière plant.
This loan could turn into a subsidy if Alstom maintains a minimum threshold of around 400 jobs until 2026 and 350 between 2026 and 2029.
The Canadian content requirements (25% of the material and final assembly in Canada) for the Quebec City project also give a lot of hope to the La Pocatière union.
Both at Alstom and at Siemens, the communications managers contacted by The newspaper in the last two days said they were unable to comment on the process underway in Quebec.
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