Next year, the Romanian authorities plan to launch the procurement tender for new trains and coaches to renew CFR Calatori’s rolling stock fleet, declared Robert Dobre, President of the Railway Reform Authority (ARF). The launch of the public procurement tender will be made after the operationalisation of ARF.
According to him, the tender will be divided in several lots including the procurement of electric and diesel multiple-units, locomotives and coaches. “There are many reasons why this procurement will be divided on lots. For examples, if we bought only diesel multiple-units it would be difficult for a manufacturer to deliver 100 multiple-units over the next period. Therefore, we should have different options so that the procurement and delivery of the rolling stock will take place as fast as possible”, said Dobre.
“The Romanian Ministry of Transport has been planning to buy rolling stock for a while, and now has the possibility to use the Railway Reform Authority and the financing source included in the Transport Master Plan”, declared Robert Dobre.
According to him, in the Transport Master Plan recently adopted by the Government, there is an analysis of necessary rolling stock that would make the rail sector competitive. “We have reached the conclusion that we need over 100 electric units, trains and diesel units so that traffic on the main routes would be ensured in Romania. We want to buy more vehicles than it is stipulated in the Master Plan which mentions around 300 coaches (100-150 multiple-units), using the European funds as financing source”, explained Dobre.
The official also added that a Feasibility Study will be drafted soon, an analysis to identify exactly what types of coaches, multiple-units or locomotives are necessary followed by the launch of the tender book in SEAP.
“I hope that in October-November 2018 we will receive our first trains. It is not a very optimistic deadline, if we take an objective look, but it is a realistic deadline that we estimate. It is the top project of the Railway Reform Authority, the accelerated, yet legal procurement of rolling stock”, said Dobre.
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