Bombardier Transportation Mannheim Plant

Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Bombardier Transportation had many regional offices, production and development facilities worldwide. It produced a wide range of products including passenger rail vehicles, locomotives, bogies, propulsion and controls. In February 2020, the company had 36,000 employees, and 63 manufacturing and engineering locations around the world.

Formerly a subsidiary and rail equipment division of Bombardier Inc., the company was acquired by French manufacturer Alstom on 29 January 2021.

History

20th century

1970s: Formation and first orders

Canadian company Bombardier Inc. entered the rail market in 1970 when it purchased Lohnerwerke GmbH of Austria. Bombardier Transportation's first order for mass transit rolling stock was in 1974 for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) (Montreal transport authority) to build metro trains for the Montreal Metro..

The core of the Transportation group was formed with the purchase of Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) in 1975.

1980s: Expansion to the US, France and Belgium

With the 1975 purchase, Bombardier acquired MLW's LRC (Light, Rapid, Comfortable) tilting train design which it produced in the 1980s. In 1987, Bombardier bought the assets of US railcar manufacturers Budd and Pullman-Standard.

In the late 1980s Bombardier Transportation gained a manufacturing presence in Europe with the acquisition of a 45% share in BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques (whose principal site was in Bruges, Belgium) in 1986, and the acquisition of ANF-Industries (whose principal site was in Crespin, France, near the Belgian border) in 1989.

1990s: Expansion to Mexico, Germany and the UK

In 1990, Procor Engineering of Horbury near Wakefield, England; a manufacturer of bodyshells, was acquired, and renamed Bombardier Prorail.

In 1991 the group purchased Urban Transportation Development Corporation (UTDC) from the Government of Ontario, which had previously acquired Hawker Siddeley Canada. MLW was sold to General Electric in 1988. GE ended railcar operations in Canada in 1993. Bombardier Transportation continues to operate the railcar operations in Thunder Bay.

In 1991 the grouping Bombardier Eurorail was formed consisting of the company's European subsidiaries; BN, ANF-Industrie, Prorail, and BWS. In 1992, the company acquired Mexico's largest railway rolling-stock manufacturer, Concarril, from the Mexican government.

In 1995 Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen, Germany, and in 1998, Deutsche Waggonbau (DW), and Ateliers de Constructions Mécaniques de Vevey in Vevey, Switzerland, were acquired. DW encompassed the major portion of the railway equipment industry of the former East Germany ("Kombinat Schienenfahrzeugbau"), and had its principal sites in Bautzen and Görlitz.

21st century

2000s: Western world's largest rail-equipment manufacturer

In May 2001, Bombardier Transportation acquired Adtranz from DaimlerChrysler, and became by many measurements the Western world's largest rail-equipment manufacturer. The takeover was approved by the EU Competition Commission subject to a number of minor clauses including the divestment of Bombardier's stake in Adtranz/Stadler joint venture Stadler Pankow (sold to Stadler Rail), and an agreement to retain Kiepe Electric as a supplier, and ELIN as a partner for a number of years after the acquisition. The addition of Adtranz made Bombardier a manufacturer of locomotives along with its existing product lines of passenger carriages, multiple-unit trains, and trams. With the acquisition of Adtranz, Bombardier also gained competence in the electrical propulsion components business.

After the Adtranz acquisition in 2001, Bombardier Transportation moved its head office, design center and core manufacturing strategy to Europe with a few legacy plants in North America for the smaller North American market:
* Three sites for bogie manufacture were to be at Siegen in Germany; Derby, England; and at the former ANF plant in Crespin, France.
* Vehicle body manufacturing was to be done at Bautzen and Görlitz (Germany), at the former Kalmar Verkstad plant (Sweden), at the Derby Litchurch Lane Works, and the former BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques in Brugge.
* For final assembly, the company chose the former Waggonfabrik Talbot plant in Aachen and the former LEW Hennigsdorf (nr. Berlin) in Germany, the former Sorefame plant in Amadora, Portugal, and its plants in Derby, Crespin, Brugge, Kalmar and Pratteln, Switzerland.

Additionally a number of plants would have specialized manufacturing roles, including Česká Lípa (Czech Republic) and the Pafawag facility in Poland which would supply parts and welded structures, and sites in Vienna (Austria) and Bautzen (Germany) which would specialize in light rail vehicle (LRV) manufacture whilst double deck trains for the German market would be manufactured in Görlitz. Other sites had their work mandate reduced in scope, or were closed.

In 2004 due to overcapacity in the European passenger train industry, Bombardier announced a restructuring program resulting in the closure of several plants; in the UK, the bogie production site at Pride Park, Derby, Bombardier Prorail (Wakefield), and a maintenance facility in Doncaster were closed; in mainland Europe, the plants at Pratteln, Kalmar and Amadora were to be closed, as well as plants in Ammendorf and Vetschau in eastern Germany which had been slated for closure in 2001.

2010s: Global operations and decline

In late 2012, Bombardier announced the closure of the Bombardier Talbot plant in Aachen, and a reduction in workforce in the transportation division of 1,200 people.

The company obtained two major orders in 2014: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) ordered an additional 365 rail cars from Bombardier in early 2014, to be assembled at Bombardier's plant in Plattsburgh, New York; Transport for London (United Kingdom) awarded a £1.3 billion contract to provide 70 Aventra trains for Crossrail, and included the building of a maintenance depot at Old Oak Common.

In May 2014, Bombardier extended its presence in Australia by purchasing a 100% stake in Rail Signalling Service (RSS), an Australian company focused on designing and constructing rail signalling solutions. In September 2014, the downsizing and eventual closure of the Maryborough factory was announced, the factory closed in December 2015.

In January 2015, the government of Hungary nationalized the loss-making and under-utilised Bombardier carriage works at Dunakeszi ( Bombardier MÁV Kft., Hungarian), acquiring a 64.9% stake for $7.8 million.

In May 2015, the parent company Bombardier Inc. announced that it intended to split or spin-off Bombardier Transportation as a separate publicly traded company, while retaining control as the majority owner. Lutz Bertling, president and CEO of Bombardier Transportation stated that a primary motivation for the sell off was to increase the company's financial flexibility, for potential acquisitions or consolidations, allowing the company to better compete with an anticipated Chinese presence in the European market. An IPO was planned for late 2015. In late 2015, the public investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) acquired a US$1.5 billion stake in Bombardier Transportation in the form of a bond/equity hybrid, with the shares returned to CDPQ dependent on the financial performance of the company. The investment initially representing a 30% stake - a valuation of $5 billion. The sale was required in part to continue the financing of the parent company's CSeries jet, a major cause of a $4.6billion loss for the parent company in 2015.

In late 2015, the National Railway Company of Belgium awarded a Bombardier/Alstom consortium a large €3.3 billion contract for 1,362 M7 doubledecker passenger rail vehicles, with a value to Bombardier of around €2.1 billion.

In August 2016, Bombardier opened a production facility in Isando, Johannesburg, South Africa. The site was specialized for the production of electric traction equipment (''Mitrac'').

In December 2016, citing a 'challenging market environment', Bombardier said that a 'strategic realignment' would put 'a strong focus on product standardization and site specialization in order to become more efficient and effective'. Up to 2,200 jobs are expected to go, with the German plants in Hennigsdorf, Görlitz and Bautzen reportedly most affected.

In the late 2010s, Bombardier has been beset by software and quality issues on a series of so-called "legacy" contracts in Europe and the U.S., forcing Bombardier to incur additional costs and pay late-delivery penalties. This includes high-profile issues in contracts for the New York City's MTA, Germany's Deutsche Bahn, Switzerland's SBB and London Overground. Analysts speculate that since acquiring Adtranz, a company twice the size of Bombardier at the time, Bombardier has created a series of organizational problems that took years to resolve.

By 2018, Bombardier has since slipped to become the 3rd largest rail-equipment manufacturer in the Western World and fourth globally, eclipsed by CRRC, Siemens and Alstom.

2021: Sale to Alstom

In February 2020, Alstom agreed to buy the Bombardier Transportation division and signed a memorandum of understanding to do so, for between €5.8 billion and €6.2 billion. The deal required approval by Alstom shareholders at a meeting held in October 2020, as well as approval by European regulators. Bombardier's major shareholder, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, had already agreed to the sale. In July 2020, the European Commission approved the sale. Bombardier Inc. announced on 1 December 2020 that the transaction would be closed on 29 January 2021 for €4.4 billion.

Products and services

Rapid transit rolling stock

Bombardier's standard metro vehicles are the mid-sized fully automated and driverless Bombardier Innovia Metro with the option for linear induction motor propulsion or a conventional rotary motor, and the high-capacity customizable Bombardier Movia Metro, which is powered by conventional motors and can also be fully automated. In addition, Bombardier has produced many custom metro models not based on either model.
* AirTrain JFK: Innovia ART 200 (ART Mark II)
* Ankara Metro: Modified H-6
* BART: 775-car "Fleet of the Future"; contract for 410 cars (Type D and E cars) awarded May 2012
* Beijing Subway: QKZ5 cars for the Airport Express line
* Berlin U-Bahn: H & HK train stocks
* Boston MBTA: "#3 Red Line" cars (01800 series)
* Bucharest Metro: Movia 346 for lines 1, 2 and 3
* Chicago "L": 5000 series
* Delhi Metro: Broad-gauge Movia trainsets
* Detroit People Mover: Innovia ART 100 (ART Mark I)
* Docklands Light Railway: all rolling stock
* Gold Coast G: Link: Flexity 2 featuring low floors and having dedicated spaces for wheelchairs, prams and surfboards
* Helsinki Metro: M200
* Hong Kong MTR: A-Stock
* Crossrail, London: Aventra Class 345
* London Underground: 2009 Stock (Victoria line), S Stock (subsurface routes)
* London Overground: British Rail Class 378 in 2009 and British Rail Class 710 in 2019
* Montreal Metro: MR-73, MPM-10 (project leader, with Alstom providing underfloor equipment)
* Mexico City Metro: NC-82(First Canadian Rolling Stock Based on Mexican NM79 Series) NM-02(Co-Built with CAF) and Bombardier participated in the Refurbish and Rehabilitation Program for Alsthom original MP68 rolling stock)
* New York City Subway: R62A, R110B, R142, and R179
* Rapid KL: Innovia ART 200 and 300 (ART Mark II and Mark III) cars for the Kelana Jaya Line
* Rotterdam Metro: Series 5300, Series 5400, Series 5500 (R Stock / RSG3), and 5600 Series (R Stock / SG3)
* Shanghai Metro: Movia 456
* Singapore MRT: Movia C951 for Downtown MRT Line in 2013. Movia CR151 for North South and East West Lines.
* Stockholm metro: The new C30 stock cars, being introduced in 2020.
* Taipei Rapid Transit System: The extension line of Muzha Line system, which entered official operation on 4 July 2009. Innovia APM 256
* Toronto subway: S-series (produced by the Urban Transportation Development Corporation), T-series, and TR-series (based on Movia)
* Vancouver Skytrain: Innovia ART 100, 200 and 300 (ART Mark I, Mark II and Mark III)

Monorails

See List of Bombardier Transportation products:Monorails for more details

* Cairo Monorail - Two lines, October City to suburban Giza and Nasr City to New Cairo, Egypt (under construction, due to open between 2022-2023)
* Cal Expo monorail 1968
* Carowinds Monorail 1973 - system closed in 1994 and sold to Vidafel Mayan Palace Resort in Acapulco, Mexico but still not in use
* Hersheypark monorail 1968; now as BlueCross monorail and acquired additional cars from Six Flags Magic Mountain
* Jacksonville Skyway monorail 1997; system built by Bombardier
* King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Bombardier Innovia Monorail 300 (under construction)
* King's Dominion 1975; dismantled in the 1990s when the Safari Village attraction was closed and sold to Jungle Jim's International Market
* Kings Island Action Zone monorail 1974; system removed in 1994
* Las Vegas Monorail 1995 - The Mark VI monorail still in operation today
* Line 15 (Silver) 2014 - São Paulo, Brazil: line INNOVIA Monorail 300
* Minnesota Zoo's Northern Trail monorail 1979
* Six Flags Magic Mountain Metro 1971; closed 2001 with cars sold to Hersheypark and system dismantled in 2011
* Tampa International Airport monorail 1991; system built by Bombardier
* Walt Disney World Resort 1989 - The Mark VI monorail still in operation today
* Miami MetroZoo 1984; system and cars acquired from 1984 Louisiana World Exposition

Note: Bombardier Transportation acquired Universal Mobility Incorporated's UM III technologies in 1989. UMI produced nine monorail systems from 1969 to 1984, which are included in the list above.

Trams and light rail vehicles

* Cobra
* Eurotram
* Flexity Family
** Flexity Outlook ''Cityrunner''
*** Flexity Outlook (Toronto streetcar)
*** Flexity Freedom (Toronto Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Waterloo Ion LRT, and Edmonton Valley Line LRT)
** Flexity Classic
** Flexity Swift
** Flexity Link (tram-train) BOCLF70
** BerlinFlexity Berlin
** Flexity 2
** Bombardier Flexity Melbourne
* Incentro
* Max Light Rail Type 1 LRV in Portland, Oregon (1984-1986)
* Variotram (unit used on Helsinki tram network only; the Variotram brand has since to Stadler Rail)

Locomotives

Bombardier's locomotives are mostly linked to their acquisition of Adtranz and Montreal Locomotive Works, as well as joint venture with Alstom. Via the acquisition of Adtranz, Bombardier was able to obtain some cornerstone technologies, such as the three-phase drive technology developed by plant in Mannheim, which is the worldwide center of competence for the development of locomotives.

* ALP-46 - electric locomotive
* ALP-45DP - electro-diesel locomotive
* EP10 - electric locomotive
* LRC diesel locomotives
* Bombardier-Alstom HHP-8 - electric locomotive
* Iore - electric locomotive
* TRAXX - electric and diesel-electric locomotives
* FS Class E.464 - electric locomotive
Other than the LRC, all other locomotives were based on European designs.

Passenger cars

* Bombardier BiLevel Coach, BiLevel Coach - commuter rail
* Bombardier MultiLevel Coach, MultiLevel Coach - commuter rail
* Bombardier Double-deck Coach, Double-deck Coach now renamed Twindexx
* Comet (railcar), Comet coaches - commuter rail
* Horizon (railcar), Horizon coaches - intercity rail
* Shoreliner, Shoreliner coaches - commuter rail
* LRC coaches
* Superliner (railcar), Superliner II - intercity rail

Regular-speed multiple-unit trains

* Aventra - EMU, successor for the Bombardier Electrostar, Electrostar
* Adelaide Metro A-City 4000 Class
* Autorail à grande capacité, AGC (''Autorail à grande capacité'') - Dual mode or electric MU regional train
* Bombardier Electrostar, Electrostar - EMU, ''(see also British Rail Classes British Rail Class 357, 357, British Rail Class 375, 375, British Rail Class 376, 376, British Rail Class 377, 377, British Rail Class 378, 378, British Rail Class 379, 379 and British Rail Class 387, 387)''
* Highliner - Double deck EMU commuter trains for Metra
* IC3 - EMU or DMU
* CP2000 (Portuguese Railways Class 3400)
* EA202 series (KRL i9000) - In cooperation with INKA (Industri Kereta Api) for KA Commuter Jabodetabek
* M7 (railcar), M7 - EMU commuter train for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad
* MR-90 - EMU commuter train for the Réseau de transport métropolitain Deux-Montagnes line.
* Interurban Multiple Unit (160 series), Suburban Multiple Unit (260 series) & New Generation Rollingstock EMU's for Brisbane and South East Queensland
* RegioSwinger - tilting DMU
* Bombardier Talent, Talent - DMU or EMU regional train
* Bombardier Talent 2, Talent 2 - EMU regional train
* Bombardier Talent 3, Talent 3 - EMU regional train. Business to be transferred to CAF in 2022
* Bombardier Turbostar, Turbostar - DMU counterpart to the Electrostar, ''(see also British Rail Classes British Rail Class 168, 168, British Rail Class 170, 170, British Rail Class 171, 171 and British Rail Class 172, 172)''
* V/Line VLocity, VLocity DMU trains for V/Line
* SNCF Class Z 50000, Spacium "''Le Francilien''" - EMU commuter train for the Transilien Transilien Paris-Nord, H, Transilien Paris-Nord, K, Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare, J, Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare, L and Transilien Line P, P lines
* Sprinter Lighttrain - 4 car EMU regional rail trainset for Nederlandse Spoorwegen
* Bombardier Omneo, Omneo - EMU for French operator SNCF
* Bombardier Double-deck Coach, Twindexx - EMU variation of the former German double-deck coach cars
* EA203 series Airport train operated by Railink. They use Bombardier MITRAC engines. Body made by PT INKA

High-speed trains

* Acela (leader of a project in which Alstom is a participant)
* Intercity Express (participant in a Siemens-led project)
* JetTrain (experimental)
* Bombardier Regina, Regina
* British Rail Class 220, Voyager, British Rail Class 221, Super Voyager and British Rail Class 222, Meridian diesel-electric multiple units
* Bombardier Zefiro, Zefiro, trainsets built for the Chinese market, which have a maximum speed of Business to be transferred to Hitachi Rail in 2022.
* AVE Class 102, AVE S-102 (Talgo-350) and RENFE Class 130, Alvia S-130 (Talgo 250) with Talgo.

People movers

* Bombardier Guided Light Transit, Guided Light Transit (GLT)
* Bombardier Innovia

Bombardier also supplies propulsion units, train-control systems, bogies, and other parts, and maintains train fleets.

Services

In addition to manufacturing a wide variety of passenger rail vehicles and locomotives, Bombardier Transportation provides services for commuter train providers.
* Maintenance: Bombardier Transportation has several maintenance contracts for the servicing of commuter trains. This includes fuelling, storage, train washing and upkeep. Some of its key clients are GO Transit, MARC Train, Réseau de transport métropolitain, FrontRunner and Metrolink (Southern California), Metrolink.
* Train operation: Bombardier Transportation operates a number of commuter and light rail systems under contract with various transit agencies. It has been the operator for six of the seven GO Transit commuter train lines in Ontario since 2008. As of February 2015, It now operates all GO Transit rail train lines. In 2015, it also began the operation of the Union Pearson Express airport link in Toronto. Other systems operated by Bombardier include SunRail in central Florida, MARC Train's Brunswick Line, Brunswick and Camden Lines in Washington and Maryland, the Sprinter (light rail), Sprinter and Coaster (commuter rail), Coaster lines in the San Diego area, and the River Line (NJ Transit), River Line in New Jersey. The company also operates a number of airport people-mover systems, typically systems it built, such as the AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark in New York City under contract with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
* From 2012/2013, the Savli factory (India) is also planned to assemble Electro-Motive Diesel products for Asian customers.
* In November 2016, Bombardier Transportation signed an eight-year contract worth of $331 million to supply operating and maintaining services with Réseau de transport métropolitain's six commuter rail lines in Montreal.

Facilities

Bombardier Transportation has production facilities or product development in:
* Africa:
** : Traction converter equipment factory at Isando, opened 2016.
* Asia:
** : Joint ventures with native companies CRRC Qingdao Sifang#Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd, Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, CRRC Nanjing Puzhen, CRRC Puzhen Bombardier Transportation Systems Limited, Bombardier NUG Propulsion and Signaling Systems, Shanghai Metro, Shentong Bombardier (Shanghai) Rail Transit Vehicle Maintenance Company. Together these joint ventures have produced over 4,700 railway passenger cars, 580 electric locomotives and 3,000 metro cars, Monorail, APM and trams for China's growing rail transit market.
** : Movia-car manufacturing and electrical component manufacture in Vadodara, Gujarat.
* Europe:
** : Sites include Bombardier Wien Schienenfahrzeuge (former ''Lohner-Werke'')
** : Passenger vehicles, at former BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques plant
** : freight rolling stock
** : Continues production of IC3 "flexiliner" passenger multiple units.
** : Regional and suburban trains, metros, at former ANF Industrie plant in Crespin (north of France).
** : Major facilities for production of mass transit, regional, and high speed passenger trains. Control systems. Diesel and electric locomotive manufacture. Sites include :
*** Former LEW Hennigsdorf nr. Berlin
*** Former Henschel & Son locomotive works in Kassel
*** Former ABB Werk-Sued Mannheim - rail vehicle drive and control systems; passenger and signalling systems; inductive charging (''PRIMOVE''); as well as project management, sales and fleet management/), and others.
*** Former Waggonbau Görlitz plant producing Bombardier Double-deck Coach, Double-deck Coaches
** : From 1999 to 2009 he manufactured train parts for the then OSE SA which were assembled by the Hellenic Shipyards Skaramaga with other companies.
**
** : Production site for FS Class E.464 at former Tecnomasio plant in Vado Ligure
** : Servicing of Adtranz products NSB Class 73 and GMB Class 71 built at former Adtranz factory in Strømmen (see Strømmens Værksted), also manufactures NSB Class 93
** : (Bombardier Transportation Polska), includes manufacturing site in Wrocław (former Pafawag factory), Katowice, Łódź and Warsaw.
** : Underground trains in Bucharest, mass transport.
** : Trapagaran
** : Production, engineering, development Also manufactures Regina (train), Regina EMUs.
** : Research and design - propulsion and bogies, also manufacture of high capacity (double decker) passenger vehicles. Sites include former Ateliers de Constructions Mécaniques de Vevey in Villeneuve
** : Derby Litchurch Lane Works - Manufacturing Bombardier Turbostar, Turbostar, Bombardier Electrostar, Electrostar and Aventra passenger multiple units and London Underground Stock, Such as, the London Underground S7 and S8 Stock, S stock, 2009 Stock.
* North America:
** : Engineering facilities in Saint-Bruno, Quebec and Millhaven, Ontario (former Urban Transportation Development Corporation facility); manufacturing facilities in Thunder Bay, Ontario (former Canadian Car & Foundry Can-Car Rail plant), and La Pocatière, Quebec (former Moto-Ski plant)
** : Ciudad Sahagún (former Concarril factory) - engineering and production site.
** :
*** Plattsburgh (city), New York, Plattsburgh, New York
*** West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania (originally Westinghouse Electric (1886), Westinghouse Electric and ADtranz)
*** Pittsburg, California, Pittsburg, California (originally Hitachi Rail Italy, AnsaldoBreda, leased from Hitachi Rail)
* Oceania:
** : Bombardier Transportation Australia Ltd - Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, Victoria and Milton, Queensland
* South America:
** : Monorail manufacturing facility in Hortolandia São Paulo (state), São Paulo state.

Legal issues

Deutsche Bahn

In early 2013, Deutsche Bahn announced that it was suing Bombardier for €350 million because of some serious defects in trains used on the suburban Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn rail network in Berlin. This was in addition to the €160 million it was asking for from Bombardier because of problems with more than 200 regional trains operating in southern Germany and problems with the brakes in regional and local trains in Munich. The matter was settled out of court in March 2015. Lutz Bertling, head of Bombardier's transportation division at the time, confirmed the two firms had come to an agreement, saying: "The settlement is a positive signal for our future cooperation."

Everline

In January 2015, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that South Korea's Special Investigation Unit for anti-corruption produced a report accusing Bombardier Transportation of corruption in the pursuit of the 2004 contract to build an elevated Light rail, Light Rapid Transit (LRT) rail system called the Everline connecting the Giheung Station on the Seoul Metropolitan Subway#Lines and branches, Bundang (Yellow Line) of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system to a large amusement park named Everland, via Yongin, the 12th largest city in South Korea, about from central Seoul.

The investigation report alleges that Bombardier provided gifts and trips to Canada for civil servants and politicians involved in the contract decision, which was based on revenue expected from an inflated estimate of 180,000 passengers per day using the service. It also alleges that Bombardier created a $2-million slush fund for the Canadian citizen Kim Hak-Pil, a high-ranking Bombardier executive in South Korea. Bombardier has consistently denied the corruption allegations, stating that "They were not pleasure trips. There is a need to convince the people that our technology works well.... If it had been corruption, they would have charged us." The statute of limitations has now expired, due to lack of evidence according to Bombardier.

Everline operation has been financially troubled since construction was completed in 2010. The system remained dormant until service began in 2013 while the line owner successfully negotiated with the city of Yongin a minimum revenue guarantee of 29.5 billion KRW per year regardless of passenger load. This is said to be a serious burden for the city because ridership is reported to have risen to only about 20,000 passengers per day on the 30 carriages, or about a quarter of the maximum possible capacity of the fleet in a 12-hour day. A reason suggested for this is the fare of 1100 KRW (about US$1 in 2015); it is impossible to pay for Everline trips via a transfer surcharge on a connecting subway ticket. A 2014 web page of a Seoul tour service retailer makes no mention of the Everline among the suggested modes of bus transport between Seoul and Everland. A lawyer who filed legal action on behalf of the citizens of Yongin is reported to have provided details about Bombardier's pursuit of the contract. He said that "between 2003 and 2005, Bombardier funded three luxurious trips to Canada to each of 37 people" including 18 Yongin city councillors on so-called "LRT field trips".

Toronto Transit Commission

On 16 October 2015, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) announced that it has asked its board to consider legal action against Bombardier. TTC staff is recommending that the TTC board "commence legal action, or make a claim allowed for already in the contract, of $50 million for late delivery" against Bombardier. Bombardier had committed to delivering 67 Flexity Outlook (Toronto streetcar), custom-built Flexity Outlook streetcars to the TTC by October 2015 for Toronto streetcar system, its streetcar system, but only 10 were in service at the time.

On 28 October 2015, the TTC board voted in favour of a lawsuit against Bombardier "for at least $50 million to recoup lost costs", according to Chair Josh Colle, because of the company's failure to deliver the additional new streetcars.

See also

* Hyundai Rotem
* Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company
* Nippon Sharyo

References

*

Footnotes

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Bombardier Transportation,
Railway signalling manufacturers