Strong first-half profits keep Alstom firmly on rails

French rail manufacturer Alstom reported Thursday a strong first half of its 2025-2026 fiscal year, as sales and net profit both rose, propelled by healthy global demand for trains and rail infrastructure.

From April through to September, Alstom generated net income of 220 million euros ($256 million), compared to 53 million euros in first-half 2024-2025, on improved operating profitability, lower financial expenses and completion of the Bombardier integration programme, having acquired the latter in 2021.

"The strong sales growth across all product lines demonstrates our ability to accelerate execution of our order book," CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said in a statement.

Alstom expects revenue growth to top five percent this fiscal year, ahead of previous forecasts of between three and five percent.

In the first half of the year, revenue rose by three percent to 9.06 billion euros, over 8.78 billion in the same period last year, helped by growth in rolling stock activity in France, as well as the United States and Italy.

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As of September 30, the company had outstanding total orders valued at 96.1 billion euros.

In the Americas, Alstom recorded 3.5 billion euros in orders in the first half of the year, over 0.9 billion euros a year earlier, notably for commuter trains for Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad, which serve the New York metropolitan area.

In August, the Acela NextGen trains, the first high-speed tilting trains built in America, entered service for Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor, which runs through eight US states.

In Asia, Alstom garnered two major contracts in India, providing driverless technology for the Chennai and Mumbai metro systems.

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