The manufacture of the 34 trains of the Quebec tramway and their maintenance over a period of 30 years will cost 1.34 billion dollars, according to an update presented Thursday by the City.
Quebec initially estimated the cost to manufacture the trains for its future tramway at just under $400 million. Alstom, the only bidder after Siemens withdrew, initially wanted to charge $677 million. Negotiations lowered the price by $108 million to $569 million, an amount paid by the City of Quebec, which represents an increase of 43% compared to its last estimate.
The City gives itself the option of ordering five additional trains if traffic requires it. Alstom will also have the mandate to train a first cohort of tram operators and to maintain the equipment for three decades.
The French company initially asked for $1.4 billion for the maintenance phase, while the City estimated the cost at $709 million. The difference of approximately 200% is explained by a different evaluation of the risk linked to indexation over a period of 30 years.
Finally, the bill for the maintenance of the trains amounts to 768 million dollars, that is to say a difference of 8% compared to the initial evaluation. “It took four solid months to negotiate with the people from Alstom, explained Daniel Charest, the director of the project office, but the wisdom of the people who advised us was to take the time to do things properly. We sat down, we did open-heart surgery on Alstom’s proposal. »
The Réseau de transport de la Capitale will have to assume the amount associated with the maintenance of the future tramway.
The contract negotiated with Alstom must still receive the approval of the municipal council. The final signing will take place, if all goes as planned, on April 24.
More details will follow…
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