Bombardier Delivers Final Super Voyager to Virgin Trains
in the UK
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--OCTOBER 14, 2002 - 15:50 EDT
Bombardier Transportation celebrated a major
success today when the final Super Voyager tilting train was
delivered to Virgin Trains - on time and to the contractual
delivery date. At a ceremony at Bombardier's Central Rivers
maintenance facility, the last of 78 Voyager and Super Voyager
trains was handed over to Virgin, finally marking the
transformation of the "Cinderella" CrossCountry network into a
"Princess" amongst railways.
Chairman of Bombardier Transportation, Jean-Yves Leblanc, said: "I
would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the teams of
staff from Bombardier, Virgin Trains and Railtrack who have all
worked closely together to make this project the undoubted success
that it is. This has truly been a successful partnership and the
introduction of Voyagers and Super Voyagers onto the CrossCountry
network has been one of the smoothest and most trouble-free
launches of a fleet of new trains ever seen!"
Super Voyagers are the first tilting trains in the UK to obtain
the authorisation to tilt in commercial service. The 44 tilting
Super Voyager units operate on Virgin's CrossCountry routes and
will soon help to cut journey times and bring the quality and
sophistication of tilting trains to Britain's travelling public
for the very first time. In addition, 34 non-tilting voyager units
are already bringing new levels of comfort, safety and
sophistication to passengers across Britain.
The $2.6-billion plus contract awarded to Bombardier from Virgin
Trains in December 1998 was for the design, supply and maintenance
of 78 trainsets. The maintenance portion of the contract includes
for Bombardier to provide maintenance services for the
CrossCountry fleet through the life of the Virgin CrossCountry
franchise to 2012. The rolling stock accounted for approximately
$955 million and the maintenance portion represented about $1.64
billion. The 352 cars were manufactured at Bombardier
Transportation's facilities located in the United Kingdom, France
and Belgium.
Speaking at the ceremony. Chris Green, Chief Executive of Virgin
Trains, commented: "Bombardier promised in May 2001 to deliver a
new train every week and they have done just that. You have
restored the rail industry's faith that new trains can still be
made to 'work out of the box' and we salute your achievement."
Bombardier Transportation is the global leader in the rail
equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its wide range of
products includes passenger rail cars and total transit systems.
It also manufactures locomotives, freight cars, propulsion &
controls and provides rail control solutions.
Bombardier Inc., a diversified manufacturing and services company,
is a world leading manufacturer of business jets, regional
aircraft, rail transportation equipment and motorized recreational
products. It also provides financial services and asset management
in business areas aligned with its core expertise. Headquartered
in Montreal, Canada, the Corporation has a workforce of some
80,000 people in 24 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and
Asia-Pacific. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2002
stood at $21.6 billion Cdn. Bombardier trades on the Toronto,
Brussels and Frankfurt stock exchanges (BBD, BOM and BBDd.F). |
