- Alstom with new production in Bautzen
Alstom, the French railway vehicle manufacturer, sees its future secured at the Bautzen site through major orders. With the inauguration of a new production line for regional trains, the first step has been taken.
The 2.3 million euro facility will initially manufacture 34 trains for Romania. According to the company, the order is worth approximately 400 million euros. The so-called Coradia Stream electric trains are an Alstom classic, with around 4,000 of this type already in operation in Europe. Until now, the approximately 1,100 employees in Bautzen have been completing orders from the time when the Bautzen plant belonged to the Canadian Bombardier group. Alstom took over Bombardier's train division in 2021.
Major order for Bautzen from the Rhineland
From 2027, another major order will be realized in Bautzen. It involves the delivery of 90 local transport trains, each with ten carriages, for the S-Bahn in the Rhineland. The S-Bahn trains are to be delivered from 2029 to 2033. Alstom in Bautzen will also be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the trains over the following good three decades. "This site has a great future," said Müslüm Yakisan, Alstom's Germany CEO. The order for the S-Bahn in Cologne and the surrounding area is the largest order ever awarded in Germany for local transport. According to Alstom, it is worth more than four billion euros. Yakisan described it as a "generational order." In the future, S-Bahn trains for Hamburg and double-decker trains for Israel will also be built in Bautzen.
Yakisan said that regional vehicles are the largest market in Europe. He wants to establish Bautzen as a permanent fixture of Alstom. After around 180 years of history in Bautzen, he wants to continue production there for "at least the next 180 years."
Kretschmer: Saxony must remain an industrial state
"For us, it is crucial that we remain an industrial state. It is crucial for us that there are collectively agreed jobs. Based on this large line, we are also prepared to make changes," said Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU). "If we stick together, if we support each other, then we will achieve a lot." Looking at the order from Cologne, Kretschmer described it as a "cool thing." When traveling in the Rhineland and seeing the rolling stock there, one gets the impression that Bautzen is doing "a bit of 'rebuilding the West'."
The Bautzen CDU politician Marko Schiemann evaluated the inauguration of the new production line as a "clear signal to strengthen the Alstom site in the Upper Lusatia region": "With this, the most modern site for railway vehicle production in Europe can continue to be designed for the future. Now, all further framework conditions for the company's accessibility by rail must be built. We urgently need the new rail connection via the future Bahnkompetenzzentrum Bautzen Süd."
Yakisan expressed his views on the sidelines of the meeting regarding the future of the Görlitz Alstom plant, which is up for sale. We're doing everything we can to make industrial jobs in Görlitz future-proof, the manager said. "We're still working on that. It's not easy because Görlitz has a different skill set than Bautzen. We have a future-oriented collective agreement that runs until 2026. We'll definitely stick to that." We want to use this period to secure the future. "We're talking to many industrial partners." There is machine-building expertise in Görlitz. In the future, we will not be producing paper bags there.
The focus now is on continuing this positive development in rail vehicle manufacturing, said Kretschmer, looking at Görlitz. "My goal is a special fund for Deutsche Bahn that can not only build infrastructure but also rail vehicles."
Alstom's Germany CEO, Müslüm Yakisan, mentioned that S-Bahn trains for Hamburg will also be built in Bautzen, demonstrating the company's continuous commitment in Germany.
This major order for the S-Bahn in the Rhineland, worth over four billion euros, is not only the largest in Germany for local transport but also a "generational order," as Yakisan described, showcasing the significant impact on the region.
