ALSTOM SA, the world's second-biggest train maker and a major Shanghai supplier, said first-quarter results for the transport division will be "excellent."

The company is confident of winning contracts soon in Italy, Turkey, Russia and the Netherlands, Bloomberg News reported.

"We can say that our order book in the first quarter will show very robust growth," Philippe Mellier, president of the company's transport unit, said in an interview on Friday outside a conference in Aix-en-Provence, France.

He reiterated the unit is likely to post "steady growth" in revenue when figures for the three months through June are released this week.

Train orders helped Levallois-Perret, France-based Alstom almost quadruple net income in the fiscal second half, led by contracts from China.

France's state-owned Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais train operator signed a 2.1-billion-euro (US$2.9 billion) contract to buy high-speed trains on June 27.

Alstom expects confirmation in coming weeks that it has won orders for high-speed trains in Italy, street cars in Istanbul and a rail link between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, and the company "is on the verge of winning" another tram contract in Rotterdam, Mellier said.

"We are waiting for the good news," he said. "In two or three weeks, we will know whether we have got our foot in Russia for the first time."

SNCF's contract includes a firm order for 80 double-decker trains for delivery starting in the second half of 2009 and an option for a further 40 trains.

Between this year and 2011, SNCF's total spending on trains will probably reach seven billion euros, chairwoman Anne-Marie Idrac has said.

Mellier said SNCF's plans include orders related to modernizing France's first-generation high-speed trains. He confirmed a Die Welt report that the group, a supplier to the New York and Singapore subway networks, plans to eliminate about 400 jobs at its huge train plant in Salzgitter, Germany.