RIGA - The Road Transport Administration on Thursday signed a contract with Czech train maker Skoda Transportation - Skoda Vagonka (Skoda) for the purchase of nine battery-electric multiple units (BEMU) for EUR 89.409 million.
The battery trains are scheduled to be delivered by 2029 and will be purchased with co-funding from the European Union (EU) Cohesion Fund and money from the Latvian state budget.
The train purchase contract provides for the option to buy seven more trains if the necessary funding is secured.
The new battery trains are intended to run primarily on the Daugavpils and Cesis lines, where the necessary infrastructure will be built. If the additional trains are also purchased, it will be possible to replace most of the diesel trains and serve additional destinations such as Rezekne and Valmiera.
BEMU trains are electric trains that are additionally equipped with batteries, so they can run on non-electrified railway sections. The batteries can be charged both during the journey on electrified lines and at dedicated charging stations.
The new BEMU trains will each have two carriages and 188 seats, including 24 first class seats. The new trains have a design speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour (km/h) and 120 km/h in battery mode. The significantly improved acceleration compared to existing diesel trains is expected to make better use of the available 120 km/h rail infrastructure and potentially reduce journey times by 15 to 25 minutes.
According to the Road Transport Administration, Latvia currently uses 23 diesel trains built between 1980 and 1992 on non-electrified lines. The nine new battery trains will replace some of the existing diesel trains.
Janis Lapins, CEO of the Road Transport Administration, said that the BEMUs are an important investment for Latvia to strengthen the role of railways as the backbone of public transport and improve the quality and availability of passenger transport.
He added that during the journey, passengers will be able to appreciate climate control, reduced noise and vibration, power sockets, USB-C charging and more.
Lapins noted that the new trains will be adapted for all passenger groups and will meet the latest European accessibility requirements, with a state-of-the-art public address system and space for wheelchair users. At the same time, conditions will be improved for travelers with bicycles.
"While the old diesel trains typically have a high floor and only three bicycle spaces, the new battery trains have space for eight bicycles in the low floor area, including four positioned vertically and four horizontally positioned," said the CEO of the Road Transport Administration.
Petr Novotny, CEO of Skoda Group, said that Latvia currently uses 32 Skoda 16Ev electric trains, so the next contract for the BEMUs continues cooperation between Skoda and the Latvian Road Transport Administration.
"Winning the tender for the production of up to 16 battery trains for Latvia confirms Skoda Group's growing role in the Baltic region," he said.
Novotny also mentioned that in addition to the electric trains and the newly ordered BEMU trains, Skoda is also supplying electric trains to Estonia and trolleybuses to its capital Tallinn, and has recently completed the delivery of a trolleybus to Vilnius.
Information in the Electronic Procurement System (EPS) shows that in the second round of the tender, Skoda submitted a bid, offering a contract price of EUR 89.409 million, while the documents filed by the second bidder, Stadler Polska of Poland, did not meet the requirements of the tender. Since Skoda's tender was the only one to be evaluated, the Czech company was awarded the contract.
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), which also took part in the tender, did submit a bid in the second round.
The Road Transport Administration announced the battery train procurement in April 2022.
As reported, on September 9 this year, the government decided to allocate EUR 123 million for the purchase of battery electric trains. The total funding for the measure is EUR 123.069 million, including EUR 104.609 million from the European Union (EU) Cohesion Fund and EUR 18.46 million from the national budget.
Latvia plans to purchase at least nine new BEMU electric trains and build BEMU charging infrastructure by 2029.
The Transport Ministry informs that in March 2025, the thematic committee on EU funds agreed on a reallocation in the transport sector, including rail, to strengthen railway as the backbone of the transport network and develop regional connectivity.
For the purchase of BEMUs, EUR 94.082 million of EU funding has been reallocated from the measure on rail transport development and energy efficiency in public passenger transport, while for the development of charging infrastructure for BEMUs, EUR 10.527 million of EU funding has been reallocated from the measure on investments in road safety and environmental accessibility of the TEN-T network.
According to the Transport Ministry, BEMU electric trains can travel between 80 and 100 kilometers on a non-electrified railway line without recharging, after which the train's battery needs recharging. This can be done by building charging infrastructure. Similarly, the batteries are charged as the train travels along the electrified sections, so on longer non-electrified routes, a charging solution needs to be set up to allow the train to travel the whole way.
BEMU trains will be primarily used to provide train services between Riga and the more distant regions of the country - on the Riga-Cesis and Riga-Daugavpils routes. According to the Transport Ministry, rail passenger traffic on these routes is currently significant and the construction of elevated platforms at railway stations will continue until 2029.
Indicatively, four battery electric train charging stations would be needed on these routes. On the Riga-Cesis route, charging stations would be needed in Sigulda and Cesis, and on the Riga-Daugavpils route - in Livani and Daugavpils.
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