Summary：Czech company Skoda Vagonka has been awarded a contract to supply new passenger trains to Latvia's Pasazieru ...

Czech company Skoda Vagonka has been awarded a contract to supply new passenger trains to Latvia's Pasazieru Vilciens rail company after the original result of the tender was revised, Pasazieru Vilciens CEO Janis Grigulis announced at a news conference Friday.

Skoda Vagonka has offered to supply 32 new electric trains to Latvia for 241.9 million euros. The contract price also covers the delivery of equipment and spare parts necessary for maintenance during the first five years of the train's operation, as well as staff training.

Last November, Spanish company Patentes Talgo S.L.U. (Talgo) was declared winner of the competition to supply trains to Pasazieru Vilciens, but the Latvian regulator forbid the rail company from signing the contract after two other participants appealed the result of the train tender. Talgo had offered to supply 32 electric trains with 450 passenger seats in each train for 225.3 million euros.

The regulator ordered a revision of the bids submitted by four potential train suppliers: Spain's Talgo, Poland's Stadler Polska Sp. z.o.o., Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A. (CAF) and Czech company Skoda Vagonka a.s.

Commenting on the reassessment, Grigulis said that low maintenance and operation costs were the main advantage of the Czech company. Since the lifecycle of the new trains is planned to be 35 years, the offer of Skoda Vagonka was found to be the most cost effective.

If no fresh appeals are filed in the next ten days, Pasazieru Vilciens will go ahead with concluding the contract with Skoda Vagonka, Grigulis said.

In November 2018, the Latvian government earmarked 259 million euros for the purchase of the new passenger trains, their spare parts and maintenance equipment, as well as construction of a new railway depot.