Court suspends Italy rail pact after Alstom appeal-UPDATE 1

Trade the News

Saturday September 04, 2010 10:22:18 AM GMT

* Alstom files appeal against train contract award

* Railways says tender complied with all rules (Adds Bombardier Italia CEO statement)

ROME, Sept 3 (Reuters) - An Italian court has temporarily suspended a train contract awarded to a unit of Finmeccanica and Bombardier Inc after rival Alstom appealed the decision, the Italian railways said on Friday.

The Tar Lazio court will meet Sept. 29 to decide whether to annul or confirm the contract awarded to the Italian-Canadian group last month for the supply of 50 high-speed trains, the railways said in a statement.

The contract is expected to be worth about 1.5 billion euros.

The railways said the tender complied with all rules and the offer by Bombardier and Ansaldo Breda, a unit of Italian defense group Finmeccanica, was technically the best and 17 percent cheaper than Alstom's.

Ansaldo Breda and Bombardier said in a statement they were aware of the appeal but not concerned, since "these days it is normal practice" for an appeal to be filed by a competitor over important tenders.

The CEO of Bombardier Italia, Roberto Tazzioli, said in the statement that the group would "defend vigorously" its position and stood by its product. The group said its programs would not suffer any disruption due to the appeal. (Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Will Waterman and Gerald E. McCormick)

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