📋 Tender Overview
Today, on December 11, ATD and Skoda Group signed an agreement for the purchase of 9 battery electric trains. The amount of the contract is EUR 89,409,387.00. Battery electric trains will be purchased with European Union Cohesion Fund and national funding. Delivery of battery trains is planned until 2029. Janis Lapins, Chairman of the Board of ATD: Battery electric trains are an essential investment for Latvia in order to strengthen the role of railways as the backbone of public transport and improve the quality and availability of passenger transport. During the trip, passengers will be able to appreciate all modern amenities: climate control, reduced noise and vibrations, modern amenities, sockets and USB-C charging points. The new trains will be adapted to all passenger groups and meet the latest European accessibility requirements, they will have modern announcement system and places for wheelchair passengers. Conditions for travelers with two wheels will also be improved. Where the old diesel trains typically have a high floor and only 3 places for bicycles, the new battery trains have places for 8 bicycles, including 4 vertically placed and 4 horizontally placed. The supply of Skoda Group battery-battery trains to the Directorate of Road Transport continues our successful cooperation in Latvia, where the passenger train carrier Vivi currently operates 32 Skoda 16Ev electric trains. These trains provide more than 99% availability and have traveled more than 8 million kilometers in total. The victory in the competition for the production of up to 16 battery trains for Latvia confirms the ever-growing role of Skoda Group in the Baltic region. In addition to electric trains and the newly ordered BEMU trains, we also supply electric trains to Estonia and trolleybuses to its capital Tallinn. We have also recently completed the delivery of trolleybuses to Vilnius, says Petr Novotny, CEO of Skoda Group. In the coming years, not only passenger comfort and travel speed will be significantly improved, but also more environmentally friendly transport will be provided - battery-powered electric trains are quieter and do not cause pollution, thus also friendlier to both passengers and residents who live near the railway tracks. The new battery electric trains will resemble the electric trains already introduced in transportation. They will be 2 cars long, with a low floor and 188 seats, incl. 24 seats in the 1st class. The design speed of the new trains is up to 160 km/h, and in battery mode - 120 km/h. It is expected that a significantly better acceleration compared to the existing diesel trains will make it possible to make full use of the available 120 km/h railway infrastructure and reduce the time on the road potentially by up to 15-25 minutes. Thus, trains will become competitive with private cars. Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) are electric trains that are additionally equipped with batteries to serve non-electrified railway sections. They can be charged both during the trip on the electrified lines and at special charging stations. These new battery trains will run primarily in the directions of Daugavpils and Cesu, where the necessary charging infrastructure will be built. Currently, 23 diesel trains manufactured between 1980 and 1992 provide transportation on non-electrified lines. These 9 new battery electric trains will replace part of the existing diesel trains. The train purchase agreement provides for the possibility of purchasing 7 additional trains if the necessary financing is found. This would allow replacing most of the diesel trains and serving additional destinations such as Rezekni and Valmiera. Therefore, it will be necessary to search for and find solutions for replacing the fleet of diesel trains in order to ensure convenient, comfortable and up-to-date railway passenger transportation. The procurement tender for battery electric trains was organized by ATD. Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A., the association of individuals SKODA TRANSPORTATION a.s. participated in the open tender. - SKODA VAGONKA a.s. and Stadler Polska Sp. z o.o.. The competition took place for 3 years. The information was prepared by: Viktors Zakis, VSIA Autotransporta Directorate, Head of the Communication Department E-mail:
