Siemens pulled out of the bidding to offer trains for Britain's multi-billion pound Crossrail plan. The company's move raised huge possibilities for its competitors like Bombardier, Hitachi and Spain's CAF to obtain the deal.
On Friday, Siemens admitted it did not have the capacity to produce 600 carriages for the latest line to link east and west London.
"Crossrail is a very large project and, since first undertaking our initial assessment of capacity and deliverability, Siemens has won multiple additional orders," the company stated. "To pursue another project of this scale could impact our ability to deliver our current customer commitments."
Consequently, the German corporation said it would just provide signalling and control networks for the Crossrail project.
The withdrawal of Siemens cut the number of bidders for the GBP1 billion train deal. Only Bombardier, Japan's Hitachi and Spain's CAF were in the running to sign the contract.
Crossrail would connect Heathrow west of London to the east of the city by big new tunnels. Bids for the rail contract were due on August, with a decision expected by mid-2014.
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