Arban Çitak, the head of French rail transport vehicle producer Alstom's Turkish unit, said that the company will bid in a tender that Turkey is scheduled to hold in the middle of this year with the purpose of purchasing 80 high-speed trains. The company plans to invest 100 million euros in a facility where it will produce the high-speed vehicles if it wins the tender. Speaking to Reuters, Çitak said the company will "definitely" take part in the tender for which it has prepared for two years. She also stated that Alstom has chosen a local partner; however, she did not name names.
As a part of endeavors to enlarge transportation networks, central administrations and municipalities in Turkey are carrying out various high-cost projects such as developing high-speed rail lines and urban public rail transportation networks. The Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ministry is slated to purchase or coproduce an additional 106 high-speed train units as part of enlarging high-speed rail network projects. Foreign companies are obliged to bid in tenders regarding the purchase and the production of high-speed trains with a local partner. Canadian train producer Bombardier announced that it will join the tender in cooperation with Turkey's Bozankaya, and Spanish railway company Talgo announced that it has chosen Turkey's Tümosan as a local partner.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of February, speaking at a press conference, Bombardier Transportation official Furio Rossi said the company chose Bozankaya as the local partner for the projects that it will undertake in Turkey, adding that it will invest $100 million in technology transfers for high-speed train production. Germany-based Bozankaya, which has production facilities in Turkey, produces buses, trolleys and trams for urban transportation, and the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality recently bought 30 trams from the company. Sector authorities expect high-speed trains to be bought via tenders this year and estimate that the total value of the trains will exceed 3 billion euros.
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