The headquarters of Alstom in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine, france) (Photo PATRICK KOVARIK. AFP)
Alstom (PA:ALSO) is going to separate its activities of tramway on tires and electric bus met in the company NTL (New Translohr), which employs nearly 200 people in Duppigheim, Bas-Rhin), a-t-we learned on Monday from the direction of the group.
The French group of transport will create a subsidiary dedicated to the development of its electric bus Aptis, while the tramway on tires will continue to be housed in NTL, said a spokesman to AFP.
The capital of NTL will remain shared as now between Alstom (51 %) and Bpifrance (49 %).
The capital of the new company will be owned initially by Alstom to 100% but will be open to the” welcome new investors “, the group with the goal to stay there for the majority, ” added the spokesman, after a meeting of the works committee with the project Monday to Duppigheim.
No information on the profile, ” industrial and financial “, these “partners” has leaked on Monday, stressed Marc Weickert, delegate CFE-CGC (majority union) to NTL.
The creation of the new subsidiary is scheduled for 1 April next year, said Mr. Weickert. But management has not confirmed it, explaining that the timing would depend on the progress of the consultation of the staff representatives.
NTL employs 188 employees, of which about 90 would join the new company, according to Mr. Weickert.
The subsidiary of Alstom, which manufactures the Translohr, tramway on tires taken over by Alstom in 2012, after having been designed by the company of the alsatian Lohr, but who has not met with the commercial success hoped for.
Some 130 of these trains are circulating, including Clermont-Ferrand and on the line T5 of the RATP.
The electric bus Aptis was unveiled last march. Two prototype flows, and a third is in editing to check if it can find its place in the provision of urban transport.
According to Mr. Weickert, the first 25 models will be made to Duppigheim, but no decision is known at the place of production of the series.
The reorganization created “especially fear” for the tram on tires, in the absence of new contracts for several years, noted Mr. Weickert.
According to the spokesperson, it “aims to secure the two activities” the current NTL.
The tram on tires presents “prospects +market+ of renewal” because the trains have 30 years of average age, and there will be a “new service offering” in terms of maintenance, he said.
