France’s Alstom has won a contract to supply Algeria’s Societe Nationale des Transports Ferroviaires (SNTF) with 17 Coradia Polyvalent inter-city trains worth a total of about $220m.

The trains, the first of which is due to be delivered in January 2018, will be used on services linking the capital Algiers with Oran, Annaba, Constantine and Bechar. The project is part of SNTF’s initiatives to modernise and extend its network.

The trains to be supplied by Alstom will be dual mode, which means they can run using either diesel or electricity (25kV) with a top speed of 160 kilometres per hour (kph). Each train has a total length of 110 metres featuring six carriages with capacity for 265 passengers.

According to Alstom, the Coradia Polyvalent trains best suit Algeria’s environmental conditions, which are characterised by sandy terrain and fluctuating external temperatures.

Alstom has also won a contract to expand the Constantine area tramway by 10 kilometres, with consortium partners Spain’s Isolux Corsan and the local Cosider. Alstom will supply signalling systems and ticketing equipment worth e80m ($87.7m)

The Coradia Polyvalent has been in use in France since 2009, according to Gian-Luca Erbacci, senior vice-president of Alstom Transport in the Middle East and Africa. Some 3,000 trains of this range are currently operating and have collectively travelled more than 4 billion kilometres.

The teams at Alstom’s site in Reichshoffen, France will design, produce and test the 17 trains. Five other French sites will contribute to the project: Saint-Ouen for the design; Le Creusot for the bogies or railroad truck; Ornans for the motors and alternators; Tarbes for the traction chains; and Villeurbanne for the onboard electronics and passenger information system.