Bombardier Sells 150 Locomotives to Italy

Italy’s Trenitalia railway has ordered 150 electric locomotives for $487 million from Germany’s Bombardier Transportation.

Delivery of the medium-power E464 electric locomotives, with a top speed of 100 mph, is due between February 2008 and March 2010, Bombardier said.

The locomotives will be made in Vado Ligure, in northern Italy, the company said.

Bombardier Transportation, based in Berlin, is the world’s largest locomotive producer. The company employs about 700 people in Italy. It is a subsidiary of train and plane maker Bombardier Inc. of Valcourt, Quebec.

Trenitalia is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato railway network, itself owned by the Italian government. The railway was created in 2000 following an EU directive to deregulate Italy’s rail transportation.