Courts award in favour of SNCB in Fyra compensation claim

A court in Milan has rejected a bid from AnsaldoBreda to prevent repaying 37 million euros to Belgium’s national train operator, SNCB, for the troubled V250.

The Italian train builder had initially blocked an attempt from SNCB to recoup bank guarantees for undelivered trains.

SNCB said it was “satisfied” by the result but would continue to seek compensation from AnsaldoBreda.

SNCB chief executive Marc Descheemaecker said: “As already stated, it seems logical that bank guarantees are released. This was confirmed today for the second time by the courts.”

High-speed Fyra trains were taken out of service in January following concerns about the vehicles’ safety.

In June, SNCB cancelled its order for three more trains and announced that it planned to scrap the V250 altogether.

Mott MacDonald and Concept Risk produced reports into the V250 for SNCB which suggested numerous technical issues with the design and build of the trains.

AnsaldoBreda has rejected these findings and maintains that the problems were not caused by faults with its rolling stock.




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