Škoda Transportation, in a consortium with ŽOS Trnava, will supply nine new electric train units to the Slovak national carrier Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK). The contract worth approximately 76 million euros (1.9 billion crowns) will be signed at the turn of August and September at the latest, Roman Koreň, chairman of the ZSSK board of directors, told reporters today when asked by ČTK.
Plzeňská Škoda Transportation, the largest group in transport engineering in Central and Eastern Europe, did not comment on the information today. The manufacturer of trains, locomotives, trams, trolleybuses, buses and metro cars will comment only after the signing of the contract, which is expected in early September.
The contract also includes an option to supply another 11 trains. According to Korena, the winning consortium submitted a significantly better bid than the other participant in the competition, the Swiss company Stadler Bussnang. The inspection of the tender has already been completed by the Slovak Office, which supervises public procurement (ÚVO).
Almost the entire value of the contract will be financed by ZSSK from European funds; today, the carrier signed an agreement with the Ministry of Transport to provide a non-refundable contribution for the purchase of the nine train sets mentioned. They should be in operation by the end of 2023. Before the eventual use of the option to supply additional trains, ZSSK will have to find money to buy them, so far it has covered the renewal of the rolling stock mainly from EU funds.
“New ecological electric units will be added to the rolling stock of our railways, which will enable safer and more comfortable travel this time on the lines of eastern Slovakia. We continue the project in a successful long-term Slovak-Czech cooperation,” said Koreň about the purchase of nine sets.
In 2018, Škoda Transportation and the Slovak company ŽOS Trnava won a contract from ZSSK worth 160 million euros (four billion crowns) for the supply of 25 electrical units. So far, ZSSK has 18 sets in operation from this tender, in which the mentioned companies also defeated Stadler.
On the other hand, ZSSK described the Stadler Group as the winner of another tender for the supply of four electric train units with an estimated value of almost 77 million euros (roughly two billion crowns) for regional transport. Škoda Transportation also took part in the competition, which is now controlled by ÚVO. At Stadler, ZSSK previously ordered train units and a multifunctional locomotive for the tracks in the High Tatras.