Alstom announces the creation of a new innovation center dedicated to green rail mobility in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, its headquarters for the Americas. This was a commitment made during the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation by Alstom, a transaction that was completed in early 2021.
Alstom hopes to hire around 80 engineers by the end of the year to run this center, which will have the mission “to develop and stimulate the creation of train platforms that can run at zero emissions”, underlined Michael Keroullé, president of Alstom Americas, at a press conference on Monday.
The continent’s rail fleet runs almost entirely – 99% – on diesel, and Alstom wants to develop electric or hydrogen-powered solutions to replace the 27,000 diesel locomotives in operation in the Americas by 2050.
There is a “necessity” to decarbonize the continent’s rail network, pleads Mr. Keroullé, because this network is very far from having started a shift as Europe or Asia have already done.
“We have a goal of arriving in 2030 with production capacity,” he said. A “very short” deadline, by his own admission, but necessary to respect in order to be able to reach the 2050 objective.
Promises kept, says Alstom
During the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, in addition to the creation of an innovation center, the Alstom group had also promised to move its Americas headquarters from New York to the greater Montreal area and to increase its activities in Quebec. .
These promises have been kept, believes Michael Keroullé: the head office has moved, and the group currently employs 1,700 people in Quebec, recruits more than 150 engineers and 300 jobs at the La Pocatière plant have been “consolidated” in repatriating certain projects there. “This allowed us to stabilize the La Pocatière establishment, which is historically very important for the group,” underlined Mr. Keroullé.
The launch of the Saint-Bruno innovation center was announced in the presence of representatives of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec — Alstom’s largest shareholder —, the business community and the Quebec electrical sector.