The company Pasažieru vilciens (PV) will purchase new electric trains from the Spanish company Talgo.
The total value of the purchase will be 225, 303 million euros. With this money, 32 trains have been acquired, each of which has 450 passenger seats. New trains will run in the direction of Aizkraukle, Tukums, Skulte and Jelgava. Their introduction will begin in 2020 and end in 2023.
Four applicants competed for the right to sell Latvia 32 electric trains – the Spanish companies Talgo and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), the Polish subsidiary of the Swiss Stadler and the Czech Škoda vagonka.
The bidder with the most cost-effective offer for 35 years – this is the life of the train – would be the bidder. It took into account not only the purchase price, but also energy consumption, the cost of daily maintenance and spare parts.
According to Gigulis, this purchase cost Latvia 22% less than Estonia – the purchase of Stadler trains.
This is the third attempt to buy new trains. CAF and Stadler participated in the first procurement competition, CAF won, but Stadler sued and the results of the competition were annulled. Stadler and Hyundai Rotem competed for the second time. Hyundai offered a better price, but dropped out of the competition for technical reasons, and then Minister of Communications Anrijs Matiss said that Latvia had no money for the Stadler offer.
