The Auditor of the Council of State advises to suspend the decision of Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB on the order of new trains. This is what the public broadcaster VRT writes on its website.
NMBS/SNCB chose Spanish company CAF as the preferred bidder to build hundreds of new trains, an order worth 3.4 billion euros. France’s Alstom, which also builds trains in Bruges, went to the Council of State to ask for the suspension of the decision, even though CAF came out on top in a European tender.
The decision will be made within one to three weeks
The suspension appeal has now been argued before the Council of State. At the hearing, the auditor advised to suspend NMBS/SNCB’s decision to appoint CAF. The Council is not forced to follow the auditor’s advice but usually does.
A final decision is expected within one to three weeks.
800 jobs at risk of disappearing?
According to the union, 800 jobs at Alstom Bruges have been threatened by the non-award of the NMBS/SNCB order. However, NMBS/SNCB says that public procurement rules do not allow local production or reinvestment in the local economy to be considered for the award.
M7 carriages are being assembled, and locomotives are overhauled at Alstom in Bruges today. The contract for the M7 coaches runs until April next year, but the company also hopes to be awarded a new lot of those carriages that would now go to CAF.
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