Nederlandse Spoorwegen sues Finmeccanica

Amsterdam: Dutch railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has widened a lawsuit seeking hundreds of million of euros in damages due to problems with high-speed Fyra trains to Italian company Finmeccanica , the parent of manufacturer AnsaldoBreda.

Belgium and the Netherlands cancelled an order for the high-speed trains from AnsaldoBreda earlier this year after they were deemed to be unsafe in cold weather and were pulled from service.

“We are also filing the suit against Finmeccanica because the company provided guarantees for AnsaldoBreda,” NS spokesman Eric Trinthamer said. “The damages amount to several hundred million euros.” AnsaldoBreda, a loss-making unit of state-controlled Finmeccanica, said it would seek damages from the Dutch and Belgian operator SNCB for the contract cancellation.

The Italian company said the problems that arose in January “were only a pretext to block the contract” and had emerged because the train was driven at 250 kilometres per hour, beyond the recommended limit in heavy snow.

Trinthamer said the bulk of the claim was for €200 million in losses from nine trains the Dutch already purchased. It will also seek to recover legal fees, lost income and additional maintenance costs.

The Dutch stopped using the Italian trains shortly after they were introduced for service between the Netherlands and Belgium because they were unreliable in snowy and icy conditions.

The suit will be heard in a Dutch court, but Trinthamer said a date for the proceedings was not yet known.