Bulgarian State Railways and Siemens Mobility have signed the contract for the supply of 10 Smartron locomotives which will offer rail passenger transport services across the country. All the new locomotives will be delivered between February and May 2021.
The contract was signed by BDZ management team and Siemens Tron on May 25, 2020. The contract has a value of BGN 55.54 million (EUR 28.4 million) without VAT and the proposed price for the execution of the contract is lower than the announced estimated value in the procedure in the amount of BGN 57.5 million (EUR EUR 29.4 million) without VAT.
The contract also includes the technical support and all necessary spare parts and consumables for a period of 3 years and 600 thousand km, as well as transport, insurance and commissioning.
The warranty period for the maintenance of the locomotives has been increased to 36 months, and training of the repair and maintenance staff of BDZ will be conducted to ensure their long-term maintenance.
“This is the first serious investment in the renewal of the company’s traction rolling stock since 15 years, when in the period 2005-2008 Siemens locomotives were delivered. I believe that BDZ Passenger Transport has the opportunity to become a well-functioning European-type company with renewed rolling stock, focused on providing quality service to passengers,” the Minister of Transport, Rossen Jeliazkov, said, at the signing ceremony.
The 83-tonnes locomotive designated for Bulgaria will operate on a 25-kV AC power system. The locomotives will be delivered in their standard color Capri Blue and will be foiled and branded after delivery in Bulgaria in accordance to BDŽ design schema.
“The Smartron locomotive offers our customers a powerful and reliable product that has been standardized to ensure a simple purchase process and fast delivery. With this order, BDŽ is investing in a locomotive fleet that provides cost-effective service with high operational reliability,” said Sabrina Soussan, CEO of Siemens Mobility.
The locomotive combines the advantages of a standard product with the proven platform technology of the Vectron locomotives. The Smartron locomotive, which operates on a 1,435 mm gauge system, available in Germany, Bulgaria and Romania. It has been demonstrated its reliability in over 300 million kilometers of service.
BDŽ is the third Smartron customer from Bulgaria after PIMK and Bulmarket. Currently, 13 railway operators have ordered Smartrons locomotives since the launch in 2018.
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