French Ambassador in Astana welcomes ex-Alstom employee in Bayterek as she completes bike trip from Europe to Astana

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On 3 August Mr. Francis ETIENNE, French Ambassador in Kazakhstan, welcomed an ex-Alstom employee, Pauline de La Marnierre, in Bayterek¹ as she completed her adventurous journey from Europe to Astana, linking the capitals of EXPO and wrapping up Europe and Asia in one bike trip.

Pauline de La Marnierre covered 9,000 km in just 2 months as part of Sun Trip bike ride² dedicated to the capitals of EXPO, starting in Milan and ending in Astana, the host of EXPO 2017.

With this challenging expedition, Pauline, who worked in Alstom Astana and travelled around Kazakhstan for two and a half years, demonstrated the closeness of Europe and Kazakhstan. During the adventure she also raised sufficient funds for an Alstom Foundation project in Ethiopia, which aims to increase local access to water through the use of solar pumping systems.

On her journey, Pauline passed through 10 Alstom Transport sites - Belfort, Ornans, Le Creusot, Villeurbanne, Milan, Bucharest, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Baku, and Astana. She travelled the section from Turkey to Astana alone, paying respect to Kazakhstan, where she worked for 2.5 years.

Pauline used a specially designed bike equipped with four solar panels, a Lithium iron phosphate battery and two digital dashboards: one to monitor and manage the engine, the other to monitor the solar charge.  All the energy consumed came directly from the sun and from the power legs can deliver. This allowed Pauline to go faster than with a standard bike, with reduced physical effort.

About Alstom Transport

A promoter of sustainable mobility, Alstom Transport develops and markets the most complete range of systems, equipment and services in the railway sector. Alstom Transport manages entire transport systems, including trains, signalling, maintenance and modernisation, infrastructure and offers integrated solutions. Alstom Transport had sales of 6.2 billion and booked 10 billion of orders in the fiscal year 2014/15. Alstom Transport is present in over 60 countries and employs around 28,000 people.

1  Kazakhstans landmark, a monument and observation tower in Astana.
2 Yearly international bicycle ride, promoting eco-mobility, established in 2013. For more information http://thesuntrip.com/