Bombardier Inc’s rail unit said it signed a $724 million contract to sell 333 of its electric Aventra trains to be used by British rail operator West Midlands.
Under the deal, Bombardier will sell and maintain three-car trains for metro services and five-car trains for outer suburban and long distances.
The trains will be made at Bombardier’s Derby facility in England and are expected to be delivered between 2020 and 2022.
Abellio consortium (70%), JR East (15%) and Mitsui (15%), which are franchisees on the West Midlands railway, operate West Midlands Rail since December 10, 2017.
WEST MIDLANDS RAIL is a partnership of 16 local authorities in the West Midlands region of England, responsible for rail transport policy in the region. Along with the Department for Transport, West Midlands Rail has had joint responsibility for overseeing rail services running within the region from December 2017, including West Midlands Trains, which commenced operations on 10 December 2017. West Midlands Trains is an English train operating company owned by Abellio, JR East and Mitsui that has operated the West Midlands franchise since 10 December 2017. It operates under the London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway brands.
BOMBARDIER INC is a multinational aviation and transportation organization founded in 1942 in Quebec, Canada. In 1986, Bombardier bought Canadair, the aircraft maker owned by the Canadian government, after recording the biggest corporate loss in Canadian history. In June 2016, Bombardier delivered the new C-Class CS100 to Swiss International Air Lines, the launching partner of new aircraft. In May 2017, Bombardier and state-owned Chinese air company Comac began negotiations on an investment in Bombardier's passenger jet operation.