San Francisco extends train services partnership with Alstom

Alstom has been awarded a three-year contract by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) for Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) services, to manage and supply parts for the SFMTA rail fleet, including two exercisable two-year options.

The contract is worth over €50 million and follows an original contract in 2013 and two subsequently exercised options.

VMI enables operators to focus on operations, passenger service and satisfaction by streamlining the parts procurement process through forecasting, anticipation and automation. It has also allowed SFMTA to carry out regular and predictive maintenance of its fleet and add maintenance technicians to staff.

VMI has translated into 99 per cent material availability, decreased inventory management costs, as well as increased daily average car availability and mean distance between failures, by 20 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively. This means that more rail vehicles are available for passenger revenue service each day.

SFMTA’s fleet, composed of 149 light rail vehicles, 39 historic streetcars and 31 cable cars, needs a continuous supply of spare parts from a variety of vendors. Alstom manages more than 1,100 new parts for SFMTA’s maintenance operations and reverse-engineers obsolescent parts for both Alstom and non-Alstom vehicles.

Within the contract, Alstom will continue to provide SFMTA with parts, inventory planning and automated part replenishment via an integrated IT system, obsolescence management, and management and oversight of the VMI programme.

“We take immense pride in supporting San Francisco and their focus on transporting passengers safely, efficiently and reliably, and we thank San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for the continued trust they have placed in us and this partnership,” said Jerome Wallut, Senior Vice-President of Alstom North America.