Alstom is a large French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2007-'08 Alstom had annual sales of over €16.9 billion, and employed more than 76,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are located in Levallois-Perret, near Paris.

The current CEO is Patrick Kron.

Alstom is a world leader in hydroelectric power generation; in conventional islands for nuclear power plants; and in environmental control systems. It also a producer of very high speed trains and of high speed trains, being the manufacturer of the AGV, TGV, and Eurostar series, as well as of Citadis trams. Alstom is also present in the urban transport market, and is behind regional train models, signalling infrastructure equipment, and a number of associated services.

Financial information

Alstom has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since June 22 1998. The Group has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since November 17 2003, and on the New York Stock Exchange since August 2004. When the markets closed on December 31 2005, its market capitalization was € 6.7 billion. Market capitalization as of March 9 2007 was € 13.6 billion.

History

Alstom's history

Year	Points of note
1928	The beginning of Alsthom was from the merger of Thomson-Houston and Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM), with its 1st factory in Belfort.
1932	Alsthom acquires Constructions Electriques de France, Tarbes, a manufacturer of electric locomotives as well as electrical and hydraulic equipment. Transport thus becomes a part of Alsthom
1969	Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) becomes majority shareholder of Alsthom
1976	The Group merges with Chantiers de l’Atlantique to become Alsthom Atlantique, bringing Marine into Alsthom’s portfolio.
1977	Alsthom constructs the 1st 1300MW generator set for the Paluel power station which set a world record with an output of 1500 MW.
1978	The first TGV is delivered to SNCF. The TGV went on to break world rail speed records in 1981 (380 kph) and 1990 (515,3 kph – not yet beaten), and achieved the world endurance record for high speed train lines in 2001, travelling from Calais to Marseille (1067.2km) in 3 hours and 29 mins.
1986	The Alsthom Belfort site receives an order from EDF for the largest gas turbine in the world (212MW)
1989	GEC ALSTHOM is formed from the merger of the power and transport activities of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE) and the UK GEC. France’s market was no longer sufficient, so the merger was to enable ALSTHOM to export into Europe.
1994	LHB Salzgitter joins GEC Alsthom
1995	Outstanding shares in MAN Energie (steam turbines) are acquired
1998	GEC Alsthom acquired Cegelec (electrical contracting) June: the Group is introduced on to the Paris Stock Exchange and changes its name from GEC ALSTHOM to ALSTOM. GEC and Alcatel sell off part of their stakes in the capital (23,6% each).
1998	ALSTOM acquires Sasib Railways (Italy), which also adds the former General Railway Signal (USA)
1999	ALSTOM acquires the Canadian Télécité Inc., a worldwide Centre of Excellence in passenger information and security solutions ALSTOM and ABB merge their energy businesses in a 50-50 joint company known as ABB ALSTOM POWER. In a parallel move, ALSTOM sells its heavy duty gas turbine business to General Electric of the US
2000	ALSTOM acquires ABB’s share in ABB ALSTOM POWER. ALSTOM acquires a 51% stake in FIAT FERROVIARIA, the Italian rail manufacturer and world leader in tilting technology.
2003	ALSTOM supplies the highest capacity automated metro in the world to Singapore
2004	January: ALSTOM sells its T&D activities to Areva. The French State takes up a 21% stake in ALSTOM’s capital to support the recovery of the company. ALSTOM delivers the Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest cruise liner, to Cunard.
2005	ALSTOM sells its Power Conversion activity to Barclays Private Equity
2005/2006	GT 24/26 turbines achieve 1.5 million operating hours and major sales to countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain and Thailand demonstrating the Group’s return to the gas turbine market with a technologically advanced product.
2006	ALSTOM sells its Marine Division to the Norwegian group Aker Yards. ALSTOM commits itself to keeping 25% of the shares until 2010. On 27 April, ALSTOM signs a cooperation framework agreement with Bouygues, the French conglomerate, for the purchase of the 21% stake in ALSTOM that the French government held. Later in the year, Bouygues increase it's shareholding to 24%. ALSTOM launches major clean coal technology initiative with the EU.
2007	Following a new Graphic Chart, the Group name is now written "Alstom", with the exception of the legal entities which are written with ALSTOM in capitals, e.g. ALSTOM S.A. April: on a test run in France, TGV Est set the world speed record for rail vehicles of 574.8 km/h

Power generation

Alstom power activities include the design, manufacturing, services and supply of products and systems for the power generation sector and industrial markets. The group covers all energy sources - gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wind. Alstom supplies and maintains all components of a power plant and provides complete turnkey solutions. During the financial year 2007/08, Alstom Power sales amounted to 11.4 billion euros.

Products

- Boilers - Steam turbines, gas turbines - Turbogenerators and generators - Air quality control systems - Monitoring and control systems for power plants

Turnkey solutions

- Gas-fired power plants - Coal-fired (steam) power plants - Conventional islands for nuclear power plants - Hydroelectric power plants - Wind farms

Services

- Product retrofitting - Maintenance and services - Refurbishment of existing plants

References

The company supplied major equipment for 25% of the worldwide existing power plants. Recently, the group won a contract for the turnkey construction of two coal-fired power plants in South Africa.

In France, Alstom is currently providing the "conventional island" (turbogenerator unit) of Flamanville 3, the third generation of nuclear power plants.

The group participated in the largest hydropower projects in the world like the Three Gorges Dam in China and Itaipu in Brazil.

In May 2008, the company signed a frame agreement with Iberdrola to supply around 300MW of wind turbines.

In the emirate of Fujairah (United Arab Emirates), an Alstom-led consortium won a contract to build a 2,000 MW gas-fired power and desalination plant including a long term maintenance contract.

Transport

Alstom Transport develops and markets a complete range of systems, equipment and service in the railway industry. With a market share of 18% and sales of 5.3 billion euros, the company is number 1 in very high-speed trains, number 2 in tramways and metros, and is among the leaders for electrical and diesel trains, information systems, traction systems, power supply systems and track work. Alstom Transport is present in 60 countries with 26,000 employees.

Products

• Rail vehicles

The product range includes High and Very High Speed Trains, Trams, Metros, Commuter Trains, Intercity Trains, Tilting trains, Locomotives.

• Rail infrastructure

Alstom designs, produces and installs infrastructure for the rail network to upgrade safety and performance of existing networks, or as part of new turnkey solutions. This includes Information solutions, Electrification, Communication systems, Track laying, Station utilities, Workshops & depots.

• Turnkey systems

The company provides light rail systems including tramways with or without electric overhead lines, metro systems and air-rail links (traditional and automatic).

• Services

Renovations with technological upgrades and short- or long-term maintenance of any type or brand of mass transit rail vehicle, and spare parts service are also offered.

Major references

• Holder of the world rail speed record established on 3 April 2007 (574,8 km/h).
• Manufacturer of the AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) revealed in February 2008. This is Alstom’s new generation very high speed train, capable of travelling at commercial speeds of 360 km/h.
• Manufacturer of the TGV High Speed Train with over 650 trainsets sold over 25 years. More than 70% of Very High Speed Trains sold worldwide are Alstom-made.
• One out of 4 metro and 1 out of 3 trams worldwide are produced by Alstom.
• Citadis trams have carried more than 1 billion passengers. 110o trams have been ordered by 26 towns such as Dubai, Algiers, Barcelona, Paris.
• Provider of the largest driverless metro system under construction in Singapore.

Products

Alstom's products include:

Passenger rail vehicles

• AGV high-speed trains
• Amtrak California passenger cars
• Coradia and Adelante trains
• Juniper trains
• British Rail Mark 4 coaches
• San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District C (C1) cars (Built in 1980s)
• Citadis trams
• Chicago Chicago Transit Authority trains
• Federal Rail Express electric locomotives.
• Metropolis Urban trains
• Indian Railways LHB passenger coaches
• Sri Lanka Government Railway 10 M9 locomotives
• State Railway of Thailand 113 Diesel Electric Locomotives of 2400 HP from 1974 to 1987
• Israel Railways JT42BW and JT42CW locomotives
• Korail EL 8000 locomotive
• Korail KTX (TGV Corée) High-speed passenger cars
• London Underground 1995 and 1996 stock
• New Jersey Transit Rail Comet V passenger cars and PL42AC locomotives
• New York City Transit R68 and R160A cars
• Pendolino trains
• Prima diesel and electric locomotives
• SNCF electric locomotives.
• TGV high-speed trains
• Various metro trains
• X'Trapolis Suburban trains
• X60 Train Suburban trains
• 4th generation S-trains Suburban trains
• NS Class 1600/1800
• NS Class 1700
• Metrorail (Washington, D.C.) 6000 series cars for WMATA

Railway signalling equipment

• Control Centers
• Interlocking Equipment
• Signals
• Switch/Point Machines
• Track Circuits

Rail clients

• Angel Trains
• Amtrak
• Amtrak California
• České dráhy
• China Ministry of Railways
• Connex Melbourne
• CP
• CPTM
• FGC
• HSBC Rail
• Incofer Costa Rica
• Indian Railways
• Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
• London Underground
• Luas
• Metro de Barcelona
• Metrovías S.A.
• Metro Warszawskie (Warsaw)
• MARTA (Alstom is rehabbing the Franco-Belge CQ310 and Hitachi CQ311 cars)
• MTA New York
• MTR
• New Jersey Transit
• NS
• Porterbrook
• RATP
• SBS Transit
• Sao Paulo Metro
• SEPTA
• SNCB/NMBS
• SNCF
• SMRT Corporation
• Sri Lanka Government Railway
• State Railway of Thailand
• SJ
• Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
• Swift Rail Ltd
• TCDD (Alstom is leading CR1 contract of Marmaray Project)
• STM
• Taipei Metro
• VIA Rail
• WMATA (Alstom has built the 6000-series cars and is rehabbing the Breda 2000 and 3000 series cars)
• Santo Domingo Metro

Innovation

Alstom continuously designs and produces new processes, products and services. Alstom increased R&D investment by 21% in financial year 2007/08.

Alstom’s innovation examples:

• 46 engineering and research centres across the world
• 100 partnerships with universities/research centres in R&D
• 1750 MW is the output of the world's largest turbine ever built for the conventional island of the new generation EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) power plant at Flamanville (France)
• 574.8 kph was the world speed rail record achieved in April 2007
• 250,000 tons of CO2 saved through the installation of a new dry-tower based cooling system at the Matra power plant (Hungary)
• Six carbon capture pilot plants in Europe and USA.

See also

• List of French companies
• List of locomotive builders
• General Railway Signal
• Alstom locomotives

Competitors

• Bombardier
• Ansaldobreda
• CAF

References

External links

• Company website
• Alstom Power Sector
• Alstom Power Service Sector
• Alstom Transport Sector