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The contract on the delivery of 32 new electric passenger trains to Pasazieru Vilciens was signed by Grigulis, as well as the Latvian rail company’s board members Inga Vagele and Aldis Daugavvanags. On behalf of Skoda, the contract was signed by the Czech company’s CEO Martin Bednarz and board member Milos Broncek.

Under the agreement, all 32 electric passenger trains have to be delivered by 2023.

Skoda is to start delivering the trains within 140 weeks of the contract taking effect, which in turn will happen as soon as Skoda Vagonka submits its warranty of capacity to execute the agreement, which it has to do within 30 days.

The new electric trains will have four carriages each and the length of each train will be 109 meters, which means that their total length will reach 3.5 kilometers. Each train will have seats for 436 passengers and the total number of passenger seats will be 13,952. At present, Pasazieru Vilciens has 26 electric passenger trains of various length and with various number of passenger seats. The total number of passenger seats in Pasazieru Vilciens trains is approximately 10,000.

The new trains will be equipped with climate control and modern amenities, as well as video and audio information systems. The new trains will run smoother and less noisily on the tracks than the old ones. The constructive speed of the Skoda trains will be up to 160 kilometers per hour as compared to 130 kilometers per hour of the existing trains.

Pasazieru Vilciens will receive electric trains ready for passenger transportation, with the manufacturer expected to provide the certification and testing of the trains.

After the purchase of the new trains, Pasazieru Vilciens will be able to introduce a fixed-interval schedule for train departures on all railway routes, which means that during morning and evening rush hours trains will be departing every 15 to 20 minutes. The new trains will be running on the Aizkraukle, Tukums, Jelgava and Skulte lines.

As reported, the Latvian government has approved the purchase of electric trains for the state-owned joint-stock passenger rail company Pasazieru Vilciens (PV) from Skoda Vagonka.

The government has thus approved long-term liabilities to the national budget for a total of EUR 255.889 mln.

The new electric train project will include the purchase of 32 new electric trains, necessary parts for a period of five years, maintenance equipment and the construction of a maintenance and a repair center for the aforementioned sum.

As part of the project, the state will grant the following subsidies - EUR 36.632 mln in 2019, EUR 4.5 mln in 2020, EUR 15.053 mln in 2021, EUR 125.923 mln in 2022, EUR 44.268 mln in 2023 and EUR 29.512 mln in 2024.