Six companies have submitted bids on Israel Railways’ rolling stock acquisition tender. Alstom, Bombardier, Hitachi Rail Italy, Siemens, Skoda Transportation and Stadler compete for the supply of 330 cars (60 double-deck EMUs). The contract is estimated at NIS 3 billion (EUR 715.2 million) and is part of the country’s rail electrification program.
According to Israel Railways’ requirements, the new EMUs will have a capacity of 1700 seats and will account 37% of the 520 rail cars operated by the company. The new trains will have two configurations. The short unit shall be composed of 4 cars, and the long unit, will be composed of 6 cars, all with an adequate number of motor vehicles to meet traction power performance requirements. Both configuration types shall be designed so that the units have an optimum of possible redundancy, especially for the traction and auxiliary system as well as the train control.
According to the technical specifications, the new EMUs will run on a new build 25kV, 50Hz catenary system in Israel, with 160 km/h.
The new EMUs should be delivered in 2019 and will be put into service on the new lines.
In the past 6 years, the company purchased 222 rail cars, but due to the new rail lines that will be put into service, and the modernization of other lines, IR will need additional trainsets to meet the demand.
At the beginning of this year, the Transport Minister Israel Katz approved the NIS 28.3 billion (EUR 6.47 billion) four-year railway strategy that includes major railway modernisation, the conversion to electric engine and building new stations. NIS 12 billion (EUR 2.75 billion) will be allocated for the conversion to electric transport, that includes infrastructure works and the acquisition of new rolling stock.
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