The contract between Siemens and Eurostar is not concluded - December 13, 2010
The contract for the purchase of ten high-speed trains Siemens "has been signed with Eurostar, confirmed Monday night Thierry Mariani, the new Secretary of State for Transport on the sidelines of the signing of the agreement between the State and SNCF trains on the balance of the territory. "But for it to be definitional, must be conducted in advance of serious studies on the technology used, the distributed drive system (motors are distributed in different cars as opposed to the TGV driven by a motor Ed).
The contract between Siemens and Eurostar has become a real can of worms Anglo-Franco-German since it was signed last October. The tender for the purchase of ten high-speed trains destined to pass through the Channel Tunnel has become a political issue that now escapes to the companies concerned.
The case began in October lorsqu'Eurostar announcement that Siemens won the contract for 800 million euros, including delivery of high-speed trains should start in 2014. Alstom, which lost the bid, said that the contract can not be realized because the technology of distributed power has not yet been approved by the Intergovernmental Commission of the Channel Tunnel (IGC). It turns out that the judge had given a preliminary opinion last March supported "the principle" of the distributed power. Eurostar has found that this position was a promise of approval if the manufacturer complied with security requirements.
Members of the French government are immediately on the frontlines. Therry Mariani's predecessor, Dominique Bussereau, has even estimated that the contract was null and void.And his signature had not yet taken place seemed in jeopardy.
December 3, Siemens announced that the contract was finally signed. Neither Eurostar nor its parent company SNCF, the French government did not confirm the information. A week later, coup de theater, the two representatives of the SNCF Eurostar board have resigned a few hours before signing the contract. And according to the Financial Times, this is the result of pressure from the French government on the public company.
Asked Monday about the resignation, Guillaume Pepy, SNCF president present alongside Thierry Mariani, confirmed that "two directors had given him their mandate." As for the possible pressure exerted by the government, he preferred "not comment".
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