News

Contract for delivery of twenty modern trains for PKP Intercity signed

On Novem­ber 18, this year, the con­tract for deli­very and main­te­nance of twenty modern tra­ins was signed at NEWAG’s headqu­ar­ters in Nowy Sącz. The value of the con­tract, conc­lu­ded between the PKP– Polish State Rail­ways Inter­city and the con­sor­tium com­pri­sing NEWAG S.A. and Sta­dler Pol­and, exce­eds PLN 1.6 bil­lion. PKP Inter­city pas­sen­gers will use the com­for­ta­ble tra­ins in Octo­ber 2015. The car­rier will obtain 70% of the funds for this inve­st­ment from the Euro­pean Union.

The con­tract between PKP Inter­city and the con­sor­tium of NEWAG and Sta­dler Pol­and pro­vi­des for both the deli­very of twenty Elec­tric Mul­ti­ple Units (EMUs) and the tra­ins’ tech­ni­cal main­te­nance for 15 years. The car­rier will pay PLN 1 156 mil­lion for the tra­ins alone whe­reas the costs of main­te­nance for  15 years will amo­unt to PLN  465 mil­lion. The total value of the con­tract exce­eds PLN 1.6 bil­lion. 70% of the funds for the train pur­chase will be obta­ined from  the Euro­pean Union funds. The new tra­ins will tra­vel in PKP Inter­city colo­urs at the end of 2015.

The tra­ins will service pas­sen­ger transit on the routes between War­saw — Byd­goszcz, Olsz­tyn — Cra­cow (via War­saw and Kielce), Gdy­nia — Kato­wice (via Łódź and Byd­goszcz) and Cra­cow — Szcze­cin (via przez Łódź, Kutno and Poznań).

The pur­chase of 20 tra­ins means ano­ther real change in the quality of tra­vel­ling with PKP Inter­city. Recen­tly, 68 moder­ni­sed pas­sen­ger cars have been put on tracks. And in two year’s time, 70% of our car­ria­ges will be modern and com­for­ta­ble, said  Janusz Mali­now­ski, Pre­si­dent of the Board of
PKP Intercity S.A.

The tra­ins which will join the  PKP Inter­city fleet are eight-unit FLIRT³ Elec­tric Mul­ti­ple Units with enhan­ced quality inte­rior. The new tra­ins will have the capa­city of 360 pas­sen­gers in the open coach lay­out, which means that there will be no typi­cal com­part­ments.  Each train will be air-conditioned, and will feature a buf­fet car, desi­gna­ted spa­ces for lug­gage and indi­vi­dual elec­tric sockets.

A range of ame­ni­ties has been pro­vi­ded for each pas­sen­ger. While orde­ring the tra­ins, PKP Inter­city put a lot of empha­sis on the tra­vel­ling com­fort for disa­bled pas­sen­gers. Apart from pla­ces spe­cially adap­ted for pas­sen­gers on whe­el­cha­irs, they will also be able to use equ­ip­ment faci­li­ta­ting their boar­ding the train, retrac­ta­ble steps cove­ring the gap between the train and the plat­form and  wheelchair–accessible toilet. There will be a chan­ging sta­tion for pas­sen­gers tra­vel­ling with small chil­dren. It will be possi­ble to trans­port bicyc­les on the new trains.

Pas­sen­gers will also have at their dispo­sal the inter­nal and exter­nal pas­sen­ger infor­ma­tion sys­tem  in the form of LED displays and assi­stance but­tons. More­over,  the EMUs will be ready for instal­la­tion of  a cell phone signal booster system.

The tra­ins will be capa­ble of tra­vel­ling with a speed of 160 km/h. These will be one of the first tra­ins in Poland to be equ­ip­ped  with the Euro­pean train con­trol sys­tem ETCS Level 2.

The EMUs for PKP Inter­city will be con­struc­ted based on the vehic­les from the FLIRT series. At pre­sent, 930 tra­ins of this type are in ope­ra­tion in 14 coun­tries. Tasks will be divi­ded within the con­sor­tium which is to deli­ver the vehic­les. Sta­dler will sup­ply car bodies and bogies and sub­se­qu­en­tly, NEWAG will be respon­si­ble for inte­rior fit­tings and equ­ip­ment. Sta­dler will con­struct the end vehic­les at its fac­tory in Sie­dlce and the entire vehic­les will be com­bi­ned toge­ther at the Polish manufacturer’s plant in Nowy Sącz. The con­sor­tium will also pro­vide appro­priate tech­ni­cal sup­port which will be loca­ted in War­saw, Cra­cow or Łódź.

Pro­vi­ding com­for­ta­ble tra­vel­ling con­di­tions while com­ply­ing with the highest safety stan­dards are our prio­ri­ties. We are proud of the fact that we have for­med the con­sor­tium with one of the leaders of the Euro­pean rol­ling stock mar­ket, said Zbi­gniew Konie­czek, CEO of NEWAG S.A.

Two strong Polish manu­fac­tu­rers: Sta­dler Pol­and and NEWAG S.A. have joined for­ces to use their expe­rience and, con­se­qu­en­tly, to offer pas­sen­gers  new quality of long-distance tra­vel in Poland. We have offe­red a com­for­ta­ble, relia­ble and pro­ven vehicle at a reaso­na­ble price, whose long-term ope­ra­tion will bring PKP Inter­city tan­gi­ble bene­fits resul­ting in lower costs of infra­struc­ture access and redu­ced energy con­sump­tion, said Peter Spuh­ler, Pre­si­dent and the owner of Sta­dler Rail Group.