JERUSALEM, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier Inc
BBDb.TO has been chosen to supply 62 electric locomotives to
Israel for 1 billion shekels ($263 million), state-owned Israel
Railways said on Thursday.
Israel is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar process to
electrify the country's 420-km (260-mile) railway system to
reduce noise and pollution.
Israel Railways said it would take delivery of the
locomotives in 2017 and that they were mainly for use on a new
fast rail line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It has an option
to buy 32 more.
The locomotives each have an output of 6 megawatts and will
be able to pull up to eight double-decker carriages or 12 single
carriages, containing 1,400 passengers, at speeds of up to 160
km per hour.
Bombardier, which has been supplying trains to Israel for
more than a decade, beat out France's Alstom ALSO.PA and two
Chinese companies, CSR and CNR, to win the deal, said Israel
Railways, which is also holding a tender for 294 new electric
double-decker carriages.
($1 = 3.8079 shekels)