France's SNCF in talks to buy Bombardier trains

Wed Nov 18, 4:10 PM

PARIS (Reuters) - French rail operator SNCF said on Wednesday it is in exclusive negotiations with Canadian manufacturer Bombardier to buy trains in a deal that could be worth as much as 8 billion euros ($11.98 billion).

Talks could be signed by February 2010 if Bombardier's responses meet SNCF's expectations, the state-owned rail operator said in a statement on Wednesday.

SNCF said it had launched the tender for a total of 860 trains, which could enter service from June 2013.

The new trains would replace old stock and boost its regional network, with traffic expected to continue to grow strongly, SNCF said.

($1=.6680 Euro)

(Reporting by Matthieu Protard and Helen Massy-Beresford; editing by Carol Bishopric)