A Canadian manufacturer of business aircraft and public transit vehicles. Provides railway engines and cars to Israel's railway system, which transgresses into the occupied Palestinian territory.
Bombardier is a publicly-traded Canadian multinational transportation corporation with 2018 revenue of $16.2 billion. The company operates in the aviation and rail transportation industries, manufacturing business aircraft as well as engines and cars for high speed and light rails. It is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of railway equipment.
The company has been involved in Israel’s Tel Aviv-Jerusalem high-speed railway project. The route crosses into the occupied West Bank using occupied Palestinian lands, some of which were confiscated for the project, which is illegal under international law. Despite the company’s claim that “everyone stands to gain” from this project, the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line skips over and does is not connected to any Palestinian towns or villages.
Bombardier became involved in this project in 2015, when it signed a $262 million contract with the Israel Railways Corporation, the state-owned national railway company, for the supply of 62 electric engines. Bombardier was already a major supplier of railway cars for Israel Railways, but all the engines at the time were diesel-powered. The new electric engines were required specifically for the line connecting Tel Aviv with Jerusalem, which is Israel’s first electric-powered line. Over time, Bombardier became the main supplier of rail cars and engines for Israel Railways, and it is the exclusive supplier of engines for the controversial Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line.
Bombardier also bid on the tender of Israel’s Jerusalem Light Rail project, which is also partly built in the occupied Palestinian territory, in East Jerusalem. However, the company withdrew its bid in 2019.