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Bombardier Winning Big in Singapore

Published: September 28, 2020

A 10-year service agreement . . .

Montreal-headquartered Bombardier Transportation announced today that it has secured a 10-year service contract with Singapore’s rail operator SMRT. The agreement will see Bombardier provide support for 636 metro cars it has already supplied and will be supplying to SMRT for use on its North-South and East-West Lines. The contract has an option to extend the service agreement for an additional 20 years.

Shifting focus to service . . .

Bombardier has had a presence in Singapore for the last 20 years, and this agreement is the latest in a recent string of successful expansion efforts in the city-state. In 2018 – the same year that Quebec reopened a trade office in Singapore – the company won other contracts to supply metro cars and service them. Last year it began construction to quadruple the size of its service centre in the city-state. Bombardier’s emphasis on service to supplement its design and manufacturing capabilities is noteworthy as Bombardier alone will have over 1,000 cars across Southeast Asia requiring maintenance by 2024, and India is in the midst of one of the world’s largest rail privatizations, which could add further significant service opportunities.

Booming opportunities in South and Southeast Asia, but . . .

Indian Prime Minister Modi is moving forward with his commitment to allow private sector participation in the country’s national rail system. Bombardier, France-based Alstom SE, and India-based GMR Infrastructure are among the top contenders to form public-private-partnerships that would privately operate 151 of Indian Railways’ 13,000-plus train lines. But as we pointed out in Asia Watch in July, Bombardier wins in South and Southeast Asia may mean less for Canada as rival Alstom SE is set to acquire the rail division of Bombardier Transportation. Alstom expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2021.

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