Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched market research for rolling stock procurement including the provision of maintenance for the new vehicles. The acquisition covers the supply of a new electric multiple unit fleet, locomotives and ETCS on-board equipment.
All the proposals must be submitted until June 16, 2022.
The authorities intend to acquire 42 electric trains, 20 push-pull electric trainsets, 18 battery- electric shunting locomotives and 108 ETCS on-board equipment.
BGN 1 billion (EUR 511.29 million) is the total value of the rolling stock procurement which will be financed from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The market research is divided into 5 invitations and are published on the Centralized Automated Information System “Electronic public procurement” (CAIS EOP).
The delivery and at least 7 double-decker EMUs includes the provision of maintenance services for a period of 15 years from the signing of the contract with an option for a further 15 years.
The second lot includes the supply of at least 35 single-decker EMUs including their maintenance for a period of 15 years from the signing of the contract with an option for a further 15 years.
Regarding the push-pull electric trainset fleet procurement, the authorities intend to acquire at least 20 vehicles with minimum 5 railcars designed for long-distance transport with a maximum speed of 200 km/h. The requirement for the number of seats at the 1st class, includes maximum 54 seats (or 12% of the total capacity) not to be placed longitudinally with the car axis and maximum 10% of the seats at the 2nd class to be equipped with folding seats. The new trains must provide spaces for at least 10 bicycles and at least 2 charging points for e-bikes and e-scooters, prams, racks for large luggage and minimum 2 seats per unit for wheelchairs. According to the requirements, they must be equipped with ETCS Level 2 BL3. The specifications ask manufacturers to propose the price for one unit in case of the purchase of 20, 30 and 40 vehicles.
The Ministry says that all these proposals are available to all interested parties and also was sent to ABB, Alstom, Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom), CAF, FPS Fabryka Pojazdów Szynowych, Hitachi Rail, Hyundai Rotem, Koncar Electrical Vehicles, Newag, Pesa, Siemens Mobility, Stadler Rail, Škoda Transportation, Talgo and ZOS Vrutky.
The procedure also includes the delivery and maintenance of at least 18 battery shunting locomotives with an on-board energy storage of 200kWh and with a 400V 50Hz AC power supply system available for battery charge. The manufacturer must provide for each vehicles the battery charging ground infrastructure including energy meter. The maintenance agreement of the shunter locomotives will be signed for a period of 15 or 30 years. According to the market research, the rolling stock manufacturer must also specify the estimated cost of a vehicle in case of the procurement of 10, 15, 18 and 25 vehicles. This proposal is available for all interested parties and was also sent to Bemo Rail, Clayton Equipment, Express Service and Unilok.
The supply and maintenance of at least 108 sets of ETCS on-board equipment will be acquired for both locomotives and electric multiple units. This project covers the delivery and installation of on-board ETCS level 2 equipment complying with standard 3 (Baseline 3) with version 3.4.0, with a guarantee that a future transition to version 3.6.0 will only be possible through a software update without change in hardware, or initially with version 3.6.0, according to the specifications of the European Railway Agency (ERA), in connection with the technical specification for interoperability according to the Regulation 2016/919 – TSI-CC. The new system will be installed on two EMU types manufactured in Germany, and on locomotives of type 44, 45, 46, 80 (Smatron and Vectron) and on 86 and 87 type manufactured in Germany and UK respectively. This proposal is available to all interested parties and has been also sent to ABB, Alstom, AZD Praha, CAF, Elettromeccanica CM, Hitachi Rail, Mermec, Siemens Mobility and Thales.
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