Bombardier Transportation confirms to cut up to 2,200 German jobs

HENNIGSDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier (BBDb.TO) will slash up to 2,200 jobs in Germany by 2020 as part of a sweeping savings plan but will not shut any of its five plants there, Bombardier Transportation's supervisory board Chairman Wolfgang Toelsner said.

Most of the cuts will be at the loss-making train-making division's plants in Hennigsdorf near Berlin and Goerlitz on the German border with Poland, he told a news conference on Thursday, confirming a Reuters report published last week.

He said Bombardier's factory in the eastern German town of Bautzen could even see its headcount rise if orders were strong, and added that there was an agreement to have no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2019.

Bombardier said last October it would slash 7,500 jobs worldwide, mostly in its Germany-based train-making division, following extended delays and budget overruns in its aerospace business.

The group declined to say on Thursday what impact a possible tie-up with the rail business of German engineering group Siemens (SIEGn.DE) would have on the restructuring.

Siemens and Bombardier have held talks to combine their rail operations, two people close to the matter told Reuters in April, although such a tie-up would be difficult because of antitrust concerns and questions over which company would retain control of a combined venture.

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Evans and Adrian Croft)