Bombardier wins £3.4bn contract

Bombardier wins £3.4bn contract

Bombardier will provide 1,738 new underground train cars

Bombardier, the Canadian plane, train and snowmobile maker, has won a £3.4bn contract to modernise the London Underground.

The Canadian company - part of the Metronet consortium - will provide the London Underground with 1,738 new underground train cars and provide new signalling systems as well as maintenance.

The contract for the Underground is expected to safeguard the jobs of hundreds of workers at Bombardier's UK operations in Derby, where the new carriages will be built from 2008.

The 15-year contract was awarded through Metronet, which was set up in 1999 to upgrade the ageing London Underground subway system.

Another member of the Metronet consortium, UK engineering group Invensys, saw its shares rise sharply on the news of the contract, and positive comments from brokers.

The Tube

The London Underground, better known as the Tube, moves more than 3 million passengers every weekday.

Metronet is responsible for modernising two-thirds of London's metro network in a public-private partnership contract.

Bombardier's new contract comes amid hard times for the Montreal-based company.

The world's largest maker of passenger train equipment has been forced to lay off thousands of workers as it struggles with the aftermath of the terror attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September, 2001.

Bombardier, one of Canada's leading industrial groups, is the world's third largest civil aviation manufacturer and a leading maker of regional jets.

Last week, the Canadian company announced a major financial restructuring after posting a massive loss last year.