PARIS — The French government on Tuesday announced orders for 21 high-speed TGV trains, mostly for tracks on which they cannot run fast, as part of a pre-election bid to preserve jobs at a historic locomotives factory.The orders for engineering group Alstom were worth as much as €630m, a source close to the situation said. The orders were announced to trade unions and regional officials and were expected to be made public later in the day.Six months before an election, President Francois Hollande’s government has promised to help maintain train production and jobs at the Belfort factory, which Alstom management says cannot survive a dearth of orders.Alstom caused a storm in September, when it said it would transfer 400 of the 480 jobs there to another plant and reduce it to a maintenance depot.Industry Minister Christophe Sirugue outlined the plan at a Tuesday morning meeting in Belfort, where Alstom started building steam engines in the late 19th century.A source with knowledge of ...
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