Only two manufacturers want Portugal’s high-speed order
PORTUGAL: Only two manufacturers applied for prequalification in CP’s EUR 504m tender for 12 high-speed trains — up to EUR 584m including the option and spare parts — the operator confirmed 3 August. Portuguese business media had pointed to a field of four — Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi Rail and Talgo.
CP said the two candidacies are under analysis and did not disclose the companies. Candidatures closed 1 August, a month later than the 2 July deadline set when the tender was launched; the qualification decision is due by 14 September.
Qualified candidates then have 90 days to submit offers, by 13 December, with contract signature targeted for the first quarter of 2027. The firm order covers 12 trainsets for the Lisbon–Porto line, with an option for eight more for international services; first delivery is due in 2031.
The requirement that filters the field
The specification demands Iberian gauge at 300 km/h or more — a combination neither Alstom nor Siemens currently has in commercial service. Both would need platform adaptation, gauge engineering or both, as The Rail Agenda’s May analysis of the field set out.
Alstom holds the local case: a heritage on Lisbon–Porto tracing to the Alfa Pendular, built by Fiat Ferroviaria before Alstom acquired it in 2000; a EUR 1.03bn contract signed in March for 153 trains — 98 suburban sets for Lisbon, Porto and Cascais and 55 regional units; and a plant Alstom has said it will build with DST. Siemens holds the delivery-risk case, with the Velaro’s Spanish high-speed record since 2007 — but neither platform exists in an Iberian gauge version.
Talgo has run its Talgo 350 (Renfe’s S-102) at up to 330 km/h on standard gauge since 2005, and a Talgo 350-derived design operates on Saudi Arabia’s Haramain line. The Avril, the newer variable-gauge platform certified for 330 km/h, set a test record of 360 km/h on Iberian gauge between Ourense and Santiago in September 2023 — but its first year in commercial service brought reliability problems. Which of these arguments carried into candidacies remains undisclosed.
What two bids say about the market
European high-speed manufacturers are working through a concentrated order pipeline: Renfe’s high-speed tender closed in June, with only Siemens Mobility and Hitachi Rail under evaluation — Talgo’s bid arrived late and was rejected, Alstom did not enter — and award is expected before the end of 2026. FS ordered 19 trains from Hitachi Rail on 7 August, and Talgo has said it must double production to meet its order book.
Price counts for 25 of 100 points in award criteria designed to be decided on quality. The market has answered with two candidacies — and CP’s qualification decision, due by 14 September, is the next fixed date.