Pasazieru vilciens will continue the procurement of new trains in the second stage of the process. This was conceptually approved by the government on June 13.
Transport Ministry reports that new trains are planned to be procured using credit resources, not funding from the state budget.
PV promises to perform a new procurement immediately by organizing talks, publishing invitations for participation and selecting candidates and preparing requirements for the second stage.
“To ensure quality railway passenger transportation services and compliance with effective public transport system in general, we need new trains. Our current models are up to 50 years old – they no longer fit quality and safety requirements,” the ministry said.
The ministry had previously reported that after evaluating several other scenarios for the procurement of new trains it was concluded that one effective solution was classifying the company as a general government sector commercial association. This is why the initiated train procurement has been restructured to have the lowest possible impact on the state budget.
The ministry notes that the concept developed by the Road Transport Administration will have a major role.
“Also new trains will help achieve Latvia’s goals listed in its sustainable development strategy, European Commission’s White Book and other documents governing the transport industry,” the ministry promises.
“When planning a regional inter-city network of routes with a large passenger flow, the priority is attracting passengers to use trains instead of cars. One of the main objectives now is the creation of a regular schedule starting from 2021. Something like that is not possible with our current train models. Transport development guidelines for 2014-2020 also provide for integrating all forms of public transports into a single system,” Transport Ministry adds. (BNN/Business World Magazine)