The penalty clause was there to protect the buyer. In 2013, the buyer's own consultant warned the ceiling would soon be reached.
In 2010 the Swiss Federal Railways, SBB, ordered 59 long-distance double-deck trains from Bombardier. About 1.9 billion francs, with deliveries from 2013.
The trains came late. And when they came, they were unreliable.
In 2014 Bombardier gave SBB three additional trains, free of charge, as compensation.
The contract also held penalties for delay, with a ceiling.
In 2013, SBB's own external consultant had already looked at where that ceiling led. Internal documents, obtained by SRF and reported by Blick in March 2019, record the warning. The maximum for delay penalties would soon be reached, and with it, in the consultant's view, Bombardier's incentive to speed up.
The same documents carry a second thread. Bombardier was claiming 326 million francs in extra costs, arguing that changes SBB requested after signing had made the project unprofitable. That is one party's claim, reported from the other party's files.
So the protection had a limit the buyer had agreed to. And the supplier's argument rested on requests the buyer had made.
The trains entered service in 2018. Alstom took over Bombardier's rail business in 2021, and the last train was delivered in 2022.
In March 2023, SBB and Alstom announced a settlement out of court. Compensation equal to the value of six trains. A warranty extended beyond the contract. Spare parts for the coming years, further work on ride comfort, and training simulators for SBB staff. The amount stays confidential.
What I notice in this is the currency.
Most of what the settlement lists came as goods and services, not money: a longer warranty, spare parts, work on the trains, training simulators.
What this story shows me is how long a contract keeps negotiating after it is signed.
The ceiling was agreed in 2010. The change requests came later, for reasons I assume were good ones at the time. Thirteen years after the order, both were part of the conversation.
Be well, Tina
Eleven patterns from conversations I had this year, about what actually decides a negotiation. One edition every Tuesday, then it ends.
