Latvian public transport company AS Pasazieru vilciens has started putting together its new trains. It is expected the new trains may start appearing on railways in Latvia in the coming months, as confirmed by AS Pasazieru vilciens board chairman Rodzers Janis Grigulis.
He says discussions with the train supplier Skoda Vagonka still continue in regards to certain points of the contract. Nevertheless, there is a general understanding how the new trains will look.
Grigulis added, among other things, that supervision over this project was highly important.
“We as a passenger-carrying company are currently using trains from the last century with technology from the last century. Pasazieru vilciens is not a train manufacturer – it is an operator. We have never used nor have we provided maintenance to such models in the past. Our knowledge of new technologies and manufacturing process is limited, this is why we need competence from skilled specialists to help us follow the manufacturing process to make sure we receive what we need and to make sure there are no hidden defects. To prevent the risk of receiving trains of sub-par quality, having a manufacturing supervisor is a good practice,” said Grigulis.
The company’s board chairman explained that not supervision was defined at the start of the project because there was a fight over whether or not the company would even get to procure new trains.
“The most important factor in all of this was convincing everyone we could sign this contract and that we would get new trains. This saga lasted for ten years. We needed to put an end to it. We needed to sign the contract. This is why the decision regarding supervision of the manufacturing process was made later,” said Grigulis.
He said the plan to release the new trains remained topical for 2022. However, he said it was clear the Covid-19 might yet add corrections. Skoda Vagonka had previously told Pasazieru vilciens about possible delays, promising they would not be long. The last set of trains may even arrive sooner than expected. This means the entire train park of Pasazieru vilciens may yet happen before the end of 2023. (BNN/Business World Magazine)