ComfortDelGro wins Paris rail contract

SINGAPORE - Transport giant ComfortDelGro Corp has landed a major train operating contract in Paris, making it the first Singapore company to clinch such a deal in Europe.

Through its subsidiary ComfortDelGro Transit, the group clinched the contract to operate the south sector of Paris’ Line 15 for an initial term of six years, with an opportunity for an extension to nine years.

The line is a new automated system under the 200km Grand Paris Express greenfield metro programme in the Greater Paris region. It will commence service by end-2025, with an expected daily ridership of 390,000.

ComfortDelGro landed the deal as part of an international consortium with two French partners – state-owned transport operator RATP Dev and train manufacturer Alstom. RATP holds a 60 per cent stake in the consortium, while ComfortDelGro and Alstom each hold 20 per cent.

The contract comes less than two years after the Singapore-headquartered ComfortDelGro won its first contract to operate rail services overseas in Auckland, New Zealand.

ComfortDelGro group chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said: “We, through our subsidiary SBS Transit, are also collaborating with RATP Dev to bid for the upcoming Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line in Singapore.

“Leveraging RATP Dev’s international expertise, we will, for instance, jointly create localised solutions where the transfer of technology and competencies will further strengthen our rail reliability and promote local rail engineering capabilities.”

ComfortDelGro was unable to say how much the contract was worth, or how much it had bid for it.

This latest deal brings the international rail network operated by ComfortDelGro to 210km, an increase of 16 per cent over its current 177km in Singapore and Auckland. Meanwhile, it faces competition from Singapore’s dominant rail company SMRT in the bid for another rail operating contract in Stockholm, Sweden.