Alstom is France's leading manufacturer of locomotives, but has decided to close its historic Belfort factory where locomotives have been built for nearly 150 years. The government has entered into talks with the management and is ready to order directly (ie not via SNCF) 16 TGV locos, but which will not be used on high speed lines, but on inter-city lines.
Taken with orders from SNCF and the Paris region RER lines the factory should be able to continue in production. Alstom intends now to transform Belfort into a maintenance centre for locomotives, preserving most of the jobs.
SNCF is state owned but it is unusual for the government to buy material directly to preserve jobs in a company which is private. Opponents have mocked the decision, suggesting that to save shipbuilding the state could order warships to be used as barges on the Seine, or help Airbus by buying A380s for the Nice-Toulon route.
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