CAF Group has secured contracts to manufacture an additional 18 Coradia Polyvalent platform regional trains totalling €161m. These are the first orders won by CAF for Coradia Polyvalent platform units. This operation follows the Company’s move in August last year with the acquisition of the Reichshoffen manufacturing plant in France, including the aforementioned train platform together with a backlog of related orders, as well as the intellectual property of the Talent 3 platform, all with a view towards further consolidating CAF’s position in the French and German markets.
In this case, these agreements include, on the one hand, the supply of 11 trains for the New Aquitaine Region in the south of France, and on the other, the supply of 7 units for Senegal, specifically for the Agency for the Promotion of Investment and Major Works (APIX), under the country’s Transport Department. It should be noted that these are the first extensions in a series of Coradia Polyvalent platform projects under way, which contemplate an increase in the number of trains to be delivered.
According to the transaction arrangements, both projects will be carried out in consortium with Alstom, this latter supplying the equipment for the units, whilst CAF will design and manufacture the trains – each consisting of four cars – at CAF’s French plant in Reichshoffen, Alsace.
These contracts have meant that the CAF Group has been able to increase its backlog in France to €2.4bn; an all-time high that represents 18% of the Group’s backlog, converting France into one of its most significant markets for the coming years. They have also consolidated the industrial freight plan for French plants and strengthen CAF’s position as a benchmark company and long-term partner of local, regional and national public authorities for the development of public transport in France.
It should also be noted that CAF is currently performing contracts for some of the country’s main railway networks, including the supply of 146 trains for the Paris RER B commuter line, 28 Intercity trains for the SNCF operator to run on the Paris-Clermont and Paris-Limoges-Toulouse lines, and the projects to supply trams for the metropolitan areas of Montpellier and Marseille.
Finally, it should be stressed that this growth in France is in line with CAF’s 2026 Strategy Plan, specifically with regards the goal of increasing sales in key countries such as France: a high-volume market for recurring operations that fit in strategically with CAF’s range of solutions.
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, literally “Construction and Other Railway Services”) is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary.
It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. Equipment manufactured by Grupo CAF includes light rail vehicles, rapid transit trains, railroad cars and locomotives, as well as variable gauge axles that can be fitted on any existing truck or bogie.
Over the 20 years from the early 1990s, CAF benefited from the rail investment boom in its home market in Spain to become a world player with a broad technical capability, able to manufacture almost any type of rail vehicle. CAF has supplied railway rolling stock to a number of major urban transit operators around Europe, the US, South America, East Asia, India, Australia and North Africa.
See also Transport blog
