Rail supplier news from Wabtec, Thales and Alstom (May 24)

Wabtec Corp. obtained a major contract to supply on-board doors for passenger trains in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The contract is Wabtec’s largest order in South America for on-board doors. The company will provide 2,304 doors to Alstom, which is building 36 eight-car Metropolis trains for Sao Paulo Metropolitan Train System lines 8 and 9. The order builds upon Wabtec’s installed base of doors on legacy Line 8-9 trains, representing more than 70% of the transit authority’s fleet.

Thales has delivered three stations — Tanta, Al Ousayrat and Sedfa — to Egypt National Railways. The latter two are located on the line linking the towns of Asyut and Nagh Hammadi. Tanta is on the Cairo-Alexandria line. All three  stations are part of the rail corridor from Alexandria to Aswan via Cairo. The modernization of signaling and communications systems and the stations' entry into service will result in a "significant increase" in speed and reliability of the rail service, according to a Thales press release.

London’s new Elizabeth Line officially opened to the public yesterday. The project, valued at about $24 billion, represents a milestone for the British railway industry and Londoners, according to an Alstom press release. The company supplied trains, technology and infrastructure for the new line and will also maintain the trains. The new railway through central London uses Alstom's Class 345 Aventra fleet between London Paddington and Abbey Wood station.