Railway order to save jobs at ADtranz

A large rolling stock order from the Swiss Federal Railways looks set to save about 200 jobs at the Basel plant of rail technology concern, ADtranz.

The Federal Railways is expected to order 70 Inter City double-deck passenger coaches worth SFr200 million ($118.34 million), according to a report in Thursday’s “Berner Zeitung” newspaper.

The jobs had been at risk because of the 1999 decision by ADtranz to close production at its Swiss plants at Pratteln, near Basel, and Oerlikon, near Zurich.

The order is expected to be carried out in Pratteln by the Railcor company, set up after ADtranz announced the closures.

The report said that as soon as a contract was signed with the Swiss Federal Railways, ADtranz would announce how many of its workers would be employed by Railcor. It added that this would be around 200.

Tenders are reported to have been offered by several bidders, with the Swiss Federal Railways choosing ADtranz because they wanted unity inside their fleet.

The central secretary of the Swiss Union of Industry, Construction and Services, Beda Moor, has welcomed the move, saying it was a way of keeping industry know-how in Switzerland.

The newspaper report said that the board of directors of the Swiss Federal Railways would shortly meet to seal the deal.

swissinfo with agencies