CEOAFRICA.com gathered that Gibela Transport, a joint venture 61% owned by French company Alstom, on Tuesday signed a contract worth US$5.1 billion to supply 600 passenger trains, comprising 3,600 coaches, to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

According to sources, the contract was signed in Johannesburg by Prasa Group CEO Lucky Montana, Alstrom CEO Patrick Kron and Alstrom Transport president Henri Poupart-Lafarge in the presence of South African President Jacob Zuma and the visiting French President Francois Hollande.

“ This project is one of the biggest in rail transport worldwide and is the largest contract ever signed in Alstrom’s history,” Alstrom said in a statement.

In 2010, the South African government embarked on an ambitious fleet renewal programme aimed at revitalizing the country’s rail industry. The programme will see the ageing fleet of surburban trains currently in service in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban being replaced with 1,200 electric trains over a period of 20 years.

Gibela’s 10-year contract represents the first phase of a 20-year programme in which PRASA will procure approximately 7,224 new rolling stock with a projected investment of R123 billion.

The contract includes the construction of a local manufacturing facility. Gibela will build a manufacturing site in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, to produce the trains in South Africa. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2014, with the factory due to come on-stream in 2015.

The manufacturing facility will also house an engineering centre and a training facility, enabling Gibela to provide technical support and supply spare parts for the coaches over an 18-year period.

According to PRASA, the project will create over 1,500 direct jobs in the local factory and 33,000 indirect jobs over the first 10 years, achieving a local-content level of over 65 percent.

The train to be produced can travel at speeds of up to 120 Km/h with the ability to be upgraded to 160 km/h. Each single-deck train comprises six cars and can carry more than 1,300 passengers.

According to Alstrom, the train is equipped with air conditioning, ergonomic seats, real-time on-board information and wi-fi internet access, and includes an enhanced door system to provide better accessibility for the passengers with reduced mobility, along with full-length connecting gangways for improved fluidity.