Metrorex SA Bucharest is planning to buy 20 new trains by yearend, under a transaction estimated at 118-119m euros. The Transports Ministry was initially planning to repair the old trains, but it found it was actually cheaper to replace them altogether.
"We drafted a study together with the Ministry of Transports, Constructions and Tourism and found that modernising 20 trains would have cost about 80% of the price we would pay for new trains. Moreover, the life span of a new train is 30 years, double the one of a modernised train," says Marius Lapadat, general manager of Metrorex SA. Consequently, Bucharest will soon have three types of subway trains running: the old ones, Bombardier and the trains of the company that will win the auction.
The companies subordinated to the Transport Ministry - CFR Calatori (Romanian Railway Company), National Road Administration (AND) - have contracted significant loans for investments lately.
The order from Metrorex is slightly more expensive than the one won by Swedish-based plant Bombardier last year, when 18 trains were delivered.
The auction could catch the eye of several powerful international players, such as Alstom (France), Siemens (Germany), Bombardier (Canada), as well as some other companies based in Italy and Spain, according to Metrorex sources.
Alstom and Siemens are already operating on the Romanian market. Alstom posts 80 million dollars in annual turnover in Romania. Siemens, one of Europe's largest groups, signed with CFR Calatori, in 2001, the biggest contract in the domestic rail industry after 1989, in excess of 300 million euros.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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