Polish rail freight operator PKP Cargo has announced a tender for the purchase of 20 multi-system locomotives, including the option for further five units.  The total value of the contract may amount to PLN 400 million (EUR 100 million). 

The first new locomotives will be delivered in the second half of 2016 and will operate in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Netherlands.

Initially,  PKP CARGO considered the acquisition of ten multi-system locomotives with an option of buying another five; however, in view of the electrification of the border crossing with Germany at Węgliniec, it has decided to acquire 15 locomotives with an option of buying another five.

“The acquisition of multi-system locomotives is a milestone for PKP CARGO, especially in the context of the recently announced acquisition of the Czech carrier AWT. As we are expanding our international business, we are investing in new rolling stock. While we initially considered buying ten locomotives, we are now opening a tender for 15 multi-system locomotives with an option of buying another five. This will strengthen PKP CARGO’s capacity of operating international rail connections,” says Wojciech Derda, Board Member in charge of Operations at PKP CARGO.

The tender covers full maintenance of the locomotives up to and including the first revision repair (level P4). A revision repair takes place after eight years of operation or a mileage of 1.2 mn km. A potential decision to acquire further locomotives may be made following an analysis of demand for such rolling stock.

PKP CARGO will require the vendor to have experience in the production of electric locomotives as well as type approval in at least one of the countries where the new locomotives will operate. This will ensure the highest quality of contract performance. The contract will have in place mechanisms which protect PKP CARGO against potential downtime of the locomotives, such as technical readiness and reliability indicators. Non-performance of the indicators will entail the payment of damages to PKP CARGO in order to cover the cost of substitution rolling stock.

The first multi-system locomotives used by PKP CARGO from 2008 were EU43 (Traxx) machines produced by Bombardier. The carrier owned six such locomotives which operated transports between Poland and Germany. In 2012, the Bombardier locomotives were replaced with EU45 (EuroSprinter) machines produced by Siemens. Currently PKP CARGO uses ten such locomotives. They pull trains with containers, cars, steel, coal, coke, iron ore, chips, and car parts, among others. They run in the three main corridors: Poland-Czech Republic-Austria, Poland-Germany-Netherlands, and Germany-Poland-Czech Republic-Slovakia-Hungary.