近日，德國工業巨頭西門子公司和法國火車公司的阿爾斯通公司正在談判??建立一個歐洲鐵路運輸強國，以更好地對抗來自中國的強勁競爭。??

法國阿爾斯通公司周五表示，該公司正在討論將其業務與西門子移動部門結合在一起。德國公司確認了會談，但沒有提供細節。

這一組合將創造一個歐洲運輸業務，年銷售額約為180億美元。阿爾斯通在截至3月31日的財政年度的銷售額為73億歐元（87億美元）。西門子移動部門去年的收入為78億歐元。熟悉該計劃的人士表示，根據這一組合，西門子公司將其移動業務轉移到阿爾斯通，同時控制法國實體。

西方列車制造商在2015年中國火車制造企業社會責任公司和中國CNR兼并之后，一直受到壓力。這種關系使中國企業能夠通過降低成本來贏得業務。中國公司去年銷售額約340億美元。

近年來，中國大力投入高速鐵路，有助于火車生產企業的發展。

阿爾斯通行政長官亨利·普帕特拉法基今年初表示，鐵路制造行業將發生一些內部的聯合。

西門子長期以來都在尋找在這一領域成長的方式。該公司還與龐巴迪公司就加入其鐵路業務進行了會談。西門子不會評論與阿爾斯通的討論是否意味著龐巴迪談判停滯不前。龐巴迪發言人拒絕置評。

一個熟悉討論的人士周五表示，與其在德國的鐵路業務龐巴迪的談判仍在繼續進行。根據該交易的結構，西門子將控制一家專注于利潤豐厚的鐵路信號業務的合資企業，而龐巴迪將在監督制造業務（稱為機車車輛）的合作伙伴中擁有多數股權。西門子和阿爾斯通聯盟的合并銷售額將略高于德國公司和龐巴迪的銷售額。

合并法國和德國的火車實體可能在柏林和巴黎有政治上的吸引力。德國總理默克爾（Angela Merkel）和法國總統埃曼紐·梅龍（Emmanuel Macron）都有著密切的關系。法國和德國多年前合并了商業航空航天活動，以創建空中客車公司，這是波音公司之后的世界第二大飛機制造商。

西門子和阿爾斯通三年前就通過電氣公司提出購買法國公司發電業務的建議，就能源資產的合并進行了談判。盡管通用電氣最終贏得了巴黎的政治家的歡迎，德國的序幕卻得到了人們的歡迎。

阿爾斯通在與西門子的交通協議方面的聲明中表示“沒有作出最后決定”。巴黎郊區的公司表示：“目前正在進行討論，沒有達成任何協議。”

German industrial giant Siemens AG and French train-maker Alstom SA are in talks to create a European rail transportation powerhouse to better rival strong competition from China.

France's Alstom, which makes trains and buses, said Friday it was in discussions to combine its operations with the mobility unit of Siemens. The German company confirmed the talks but didn't provide details.

A combination would create a European transportation business with about $18 billion in annual sales. Alstom had sales of EUR7.3 billion ($8.7 billion) in the financial year ended March 31. Siemens's mobility unit had EUR7.8 billion in revenue last year. Under the combination, Siemens would move its mobility operations into Alstom while taking control of the French entity, said a person familiar with the plans.

Western train makers have been feeling pressure to gain scale after the 2015 merger of Chinese train makers CSR Corp. and China CNR. That tie-up has enabled the Chinese entity to win business by cutting costs. The Chinese company had about $34 billion in sales last year.

China has invested massively in high-speed rail, helping fuel growth of its train makers.

Alstom Chief Executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge early this year said the train-making industry would "go through some kind of consolidation."

Siemens has been looking for ways to gain heft for some time. The company also has held talks with Bombardier Inc. about joining their train-making business. Siemens wouldn't comment on whether discussions with Alstom meant Bombardier talks had stalled. A Bombardier spokesman declined to comment.

The talks with Bombardier, which has its rail business based in Germany, are continuing and far advanced, a person familiar with discussions said Friday. Under that deal's structure, Siemens would control a joint-venture focused on lucrative rail-signaling operations while Bombardier would have a majority stake in a partnership overseeing the train-making business, known as rolling-stock. The combined sales of a Siemens and Alstom tie-up would be slightly larger than one involving the German company and Bombardier.

Merging French and German train entities could have political appeal in Berlin and Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have enjoyed a close relationship. France and Germany years ago pooled their commercial aerospace activities to create Airbus SE, the world's No. 2 plane maker after Boeing Co.

Siemens and Alstom three years ago held talks about merging their energy assets in the face of a proposal by General Electric Co. to buy the French company's power generation business. The German overture was welcomed by politicians in Paris, though GE eventually won out, leaving Alstom focused on transportation.

Alstom said in a statement that "no final decision has been made" on a transport deal with Siemens. "Discussions are ongoing and no agreement has been reached," the company based on the outskirts of Paris said.