Belgian court halts SNCB's 1.7 billion-euro train order, Belga reports

By Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri

(Reuters) -Belgium's supreme administrative court on Thursday suspended an order by the country's SNCB national rail company, the biggest the company has placed, with Spain's CAF, Belga news agency reported on Thursday.

CAF was appointed as the preferred bidder against France's Alstom and Siemens of Germany at the end of February.

Belga news agency did not provide further details of Thursday's decision by the Council of State, which could not immediately be contacted by Reuters.

Deutsche Bank analyst Gael de-Bray said the court decision could open the way for Alstom to instead be the new preferred-bidder. If Alstom wins the contract, it would guarantee the workload of Alstom's Bruges factory in Belgium for a few more years and avoid restructuring, and possibly the closure of the facility, de-Bray added.

Alstom's spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement the company did not "wish to communicate on this matter".

Spain's CAF was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

Following SNCB's confirmation CAF had been chosen, Alstom and Siemens launched separate legal actions requesting the suspension of SNCB's decision.

SNCB's tender consists of a first batch valued at 1.7 billion euros ($1.93 billion), with optional batches potentially bringing the total contract value to 5 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8804 euros)

(Reporting by Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri, editing by Bart Meijer and Barbara Lewis)