Thales has no intention of selling its rail signalling business

“Contrary to statements by Mr Arnaud Montebourg, Thales has never had any intention of selling or merging its rail signalling business. Quite the reverse is true: Thales intends to develop this rail signalling activity and to make it the world market leader as one of core businesses of the Group,” the company writes in response to Montebourg’s statements about Thales selling the business to Chinese CRRC – where he thinks that it should have gone to Alstom. In the statement Thales explains that the agreement with CRRC is purely commercial – and that it is not an exclusive agreement and that absolutely no transfer of ownership is involved. It is simply a response to demand from transport operators for solutions that are compatible with rolling stock from any provider (that would include Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi and Bombardier). The company ends its statement very clearly saying that: “This activity is one of the Thales Group's core businesses and core technologies. Thales has no plans, and has never had the intention, to sell or merge this activity in any way.”