近日，德国工业巨头西门子公司和法国火车公司的阿尔斯通公司正在谈判??建立一个欧洲铁路运输强国，以更好地对抗来自中国的强劲竞争。??

法国阿尔斯通公司周五表示，该公司正在讨论将其业务与西门子移动部门结合在一起。德国公司确认了会谈，但没有提供细节。

这一组合将创造一个欧洲运输业务，年销售额约为180亿美元。阿尔斯通在截至3月31日的财政年度的销售额为73亿欧元（87亿美元）。西门子移动部门去年的收入为78亿欧元。熟悉该计划的人士表示，根据这一组合，西门子公司将其移动业务转移到阿尔斯通，同时控制法国实体。

西方列车制造商在2015年中国火车制造企业社会责任公司和中国CNR兼并之后，一直受到压力。这种关系使中国企业能够通过降低成本来赢得业务。中国公司去年销售额约340亿美元。

近年来，中国大力投入高速铁路，有助于火车生产企业的发展。

阿尔斯通行政长官亨利·普帕特拉法基今年初表示，铁路制造行业将发生一些内部的联合。

西门子长期以来都在寻找在这一领域成长的方式。该公司还与庞巴迪公司就加入其铁路业务进行了会谈。西门子不会评论与阿尔斯通的讨论是否意味着庞巴迪谈判停滞不前。庞巴迪发言人拒绝置评。

一个熟悉讨论的人士周五表示，与其在德国的铁路业务庞巴迪的谈判仍在继续进行。根据该交易的结构，西门子将控制一家专注于利润丰厚的铁路信号业务的合资企业，而庞巴迪将在监督制造业务（称为机车车辆）的合作伙伴中拥有多数股权。西门子和阿尔斯通联盟的合并销售额将略高于德国公司和庞巴迪的销售额。

合并法国和德国的火车实体可能在柏林和巴黎有政治上的吸引力。德国总理默克尔（Angela Merkel）和法国总统埃曼纽·梅龙（Emmanuel Macron）都有着密切的关系。法国和德国多年前合并了商业航空航天活动，以创建空中客车公司，这是波音公司之后的世界第二大飞机制造商。

西门子和阿尔斯通三年前就通过电气公司提出购买法国公司发电业务的建议，就能源资产的合并进行了谈判。尽管通用电气最终赢得了巴黎的政治家的欢迎，德国的序幕却得到了人们的欢迎。

阿尔斯通在与西门子的交通协议方面的声明中表示“没有作出最后决定”。巴黎郊区的公司表示：“目前正在进行讨论，没有达成任何协议。”

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.