Czech Railways today announced a long-awaited competition for the supply of up to 90 new multi-system locomotives. At the same time, they started preparing another locomotive tender for the rental of traction vehicles.
The framework contract with the winner of the competition is to be valid for eight years and will supply 90 locomotives that can run 200 km / h. It must have a permit to operate not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Austria, Poland, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. In the tender conditions, the carrier undertakes to purchase at least 40 pieces, the rest does not have to take the rest. The contract also includes a complete service for 10 years. Czech Railways will select suppliers not only according to the price of the locomotive, but also according to the complete maintenance costs. With locomotive and maintenance prices, this is a tender worth well over 10 billion crowns.
“We are competing for the supply of modern electric locomotives, which will ensure our long-term competitiveness on the Central European railway market and replace the aging machines from the 1970s. It is no longer worth modernizing or equipping them with the ETCS system, to which our railways on the main corridors will soon switch. New locomotives will run on the lines in 3 years at the earliest,“Says Václav Nebeský, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Czech Railways.
Before announcing the competition, Czech Railways conducted so-called technical consultations, in which Siemens, Bombardier, Talgo and Škoda Transportation participated. According to the tender conditions, the winner of the competition will have 40 months to deliver the first four locomotives, then the carrier wants 4 locomotives per month. Manufacturers have until the beginning of August to register for the tender and confirm whether they meet the conditions, only then will the selection of suppliers begin.
According to Nebeský, the big competition will lead to a reduction in the number of locomotive series, which will have a positive effect on maintenance costs, the purchase of spare parts, staff training or the availability of vehicles.
The new locomotives will be three-system (3 kV DC, 25 kV 50 Hz AC, 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC), equipped with the European train protection system ETCS and national systems for operation in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. . Their power will be at least 6,000 kW, which will allow the transport of an express train weighing up to 450 tons (that is approximately 10 express cars) on a climb of 6 per mille at a constant speed of 200 km / h. The electrodynamic brake allows to operate in recuperation mode. This means that during braking, it produces electricity, which it returns to the electricity grid, thus reducing the energy intensity of rail transport and increasing its positive impact on environmental protection. The control system will enable the communication of several locomotives and locomotives with the control cars so that they can also be used in push-pull sets.
For the first time, Czech Railways is also requesting the provision of modern vehicles to provide full service from a supplier. Other large railways and carriers abroad are also advancing. “In the case of these modern interoperable locomotives, full service has a number of undeniable advantages for us. Above all, it is a very high availability at the level of up to 98%. Furthermore, it is easy to have spare parts available and quick troubleshooting that can occur during intensive operation. At the same time, we want full service to be provided in accordance with current trends in our operations and our employees. This will ensure high professional growth and promising employment for dozens of technicians in the Regional Maintenance Centers, as well as good use of our operations, “ says Michal Kraus, Deputy Minister for Operations and Member of the Board of Directors of Czech Railways. The winner of the competition will thus also provide maintenance for Czech Railways for a period of 10 years with an option for another five-year period.
For the purchase and rental of other machines
Today, Czech Railways also announced others preliminary market consultation to buy more machines: to rent up to thirty more multi-system locomotives for ten years. The maximum speed of locomotives is set at 200 km / h. The consultations serve to find out the situation on the market and possible offers, in addition to the manufacturers of Czech Railways, they also addressed leasing companies. Surprisingly, Germany is not on the list of countries where locomotives should go.
The major renewal of the Czech Railways locomotive fleet has been a topic at the state carrier for the last few years, but so far the company has only solved it by leasing Siemens Vectron locomotives. The company changed its plans several times, for example, the locomotives were originally supposed to be 230 km / h. However, the company eventually withdrew from this speed so as not to fragment the fleet.
Czech Railways currently has 294 electric locomotives of 17 different types. For DC and AC locomotives, the average age is 35 to 42 years. The 150.2 and 151 series, which are intensively used in express transport, were manufactured in 1978 and the 242 series alternating locomotives have been produced since 1975.
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