Spain awards 786 million euro high-speed train contract to Talgo

Spain has awarded a contract worth 786 million euros ($832 million) to supply and maintain 15 new high-speed trains for Spanish train maker Talgo, the public works minister said Monday. Talgo beat out rival bids by Germany's Siemens and France's Alstom for the tender, which can be extended for a second batch of 15 more trains that would raise the total value of the contract to 1.4 billion euros.
"The winning offer was presented by Talgo," Public Works Minister Inigo de la Serna told a news conference in Madrid. The company presented "the best offer from both the technical and economic point of view", he added. The initial contract is to build 15 new high-speed trains and maintain them for 30 years. The construction of the trains will take around five years and generate around 1,000 jobs, the minister said.