On June 30, two guarded freight trucks sent from a manufacturing plant in Ostrava delivered the remaining two out of four new passenger cars for the new electric train, as reported by JSC Pasazieru vilciens.
To rolling part, roof parts and the first two passenger cars arrived in Riga last week. With that, Latvia has been supplied with the first fully stocked electric train. The electric train made its way from Czech Republic to Latvia through Poland and Lithuania using cargo trucks.
Now the electric train cars will be put together locally to prepare them and the train for the first live tests, which are scheduled to start in August.
JSC Pasazieru vilciens plans to receive all 32 electric trains until the end of 2023.
Each train will consists of four cars. The length of a single electric train will be 109 m. Each will have a total of 436 passenger seats. Trains will be leveled with passenger platforms to ease boarding for all people and shorten the time spent on stops. Wider doors will also help speed up the process.
New electric trains will have climate control, ergonomic seats and other modern conveniences. They are also fitted with modern video and audio notification systems and high-speed Wi-Fi connections.
Electric trains will run more smoothly and produce less noise when compared to the current trains. The constructive speed of the new trains will reach 160 km/h (120 km/h for current ones).
Once the new electric trains have been supplied, it will be possible to introduce interval schedules for all routes used by the new electric trains. This means that in the mornings and evening of weekdays, which are traditionally the most active hours, trains will course every 15 to 20 minutes. It is planned to use the new trains to fill the routes in the direction of Aizkraukle, Tukums, Skulte and Jelgava.
The total cost of the project is EUR 257.889 million. The procurement of 23 new electric trains is possible thanks to co-financing from the European Union Cohesion Fund worth a total of EUR 114.211 million. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
