The STM wants to order 765 new metro cars, with an option for 288 more. (CBC)

Montreal's transit agency has confirmed it will call for international tenders this fall to replace its aging metro cars.

The process had been stalled after a consortium formed by Bombardier and French company Alstom sued the Société de transport de Montréal to block an international tendering process.

Quebec's Superior Court ruled on June 30 that it was in the public's interest to analyze a bid from a rival Spanish company, CAF.

The return to a call for tenders means the whole process will be delayed by a year or two, according to the STM.

A spokesman for CAF, Philippe Roy, said the company was delighted with the STM's decision. "The good news is that we believe Montrealers and Quebecers will now pay less for their metro cars," Roy said.

$3B rides on decision

The contract, worth $3 billion, is for 765 new subway cars, with an option to order 288 more.

'It's bad news for everybody.'—Christian Caron, Bombardier employee

The STM has stipulated that 60 per cent of the work to build the cars has to be done in Quebec.

Roy said the STM's demands will not present a problem for the Spanish company. "We intend to open a plant in Quebec, create CAF Canada … and do it all in Quebec."

Bombardier spokesperson Marc-André Lefebvre said the Montreal-headquartered multinational plane and train maker may not even put forward a bid when the call for tenders goes out in the fall.

'Incomprehensible'

"We find it incomprehensible that [CAF] meets the contract's demands," Lefebvre said Tuesday.

Bombardier has warned that if it does not get the contract, it will be forced to lay off 185 people from its plant in La Pocatière, in Quebec's Bas-Saint-Laurent region.

Workers at the plant were upset with the transit authority's decision.

"It's bad news for everybody," said Bombardier employee Christian Caron. "I'm thinking about all the young families that will have to go on welfare for the suit-and-tie businessmen in Montreal."

However, Caron said he was not worried about his own job.

The mayor of La Pocatière, Sylvain Hudon, said he hopes the STM will choose the Canadian company. "Bombardier made a quality submission and CAF will have to match that," said Hudon.