It is a relief for the 500 Alstom employees in Belfort.
Thanks to the 880 million euro contract signed with Ukraine, the future of the plant is assured.
Kiev has undertaken to order 130 locomotives to modernize its rail network, including around 20 which will be manufactured at the Belfort plant.
A timely contract.
REPORTAGE
During his trip to Ukraine last week, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire landed a contract worth 880 million euros for Alstom France.
Kiev will order 130 locomotives to modernize its rail network, and around 20 of them will be manufactured in the Belfort plant.
It is a relief for the 500 employees, who were reaching the end of their orders.
This contract allows them and the city to project themselves serenely in the years to come.
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An activity for four to five years
Without this Ukrainian contract, Alstom Transport, Alstom's Belfort plant, found itself running out of orders next September.
The construction of these twenty double-locomotives will therefore allow the 500 employees to continue their activity for at least four or five years.
"Alstom in Belfort was in a critical situation. People could no longer plan, if only to buy a house or this kind of project which requires loans. Now things will start again", welcomes André Fages, CFE-CGC staff representative.
"It really is a great thing for our city"
Beyond Alstom Transport, which has been part of Belfort's DNA for 150 years, the entire city and the employment pool will benefit.
"Because you have direct jobs, but you have two to three times more indirect jobs that will be impacted by these orders. So, this is really an excellent thing for our city and our department", explains Mayor Damien Meslot .
However, the construction phase of these locomotives will not begin for another year and a half.
In the meantime, two-thirds of employees will certainly have to be placed on partial unemployment.