INTERNATIONAL: Three different agreements have been announced in late September by major rolling stock manufacturers for the joint development of high speed trainsets, each building on earlier collaboration.
Škoda Group – Hyundai Rotem agreement
Škoda Group and Hyundai Rotem have signed a memorandum of understanding on the Czechia-Korea Business Forum in Praha on September 20 for future collaboration on strategic projects.
Škoda says that the areas of potential collaboration include the localisation of production, technology transfer, and participation in significant international railway and infrastructure projects, including the supply of high speed trainsets.
The initiative builds on an existing partnership between Škoda Group and Hyundai Rotem, which included the co-operation on locomotives supplied for Tanzania.
In July 2021 Tanzania Railways Corp awarded Hyundai Rotem a 335·4bn won contract to supply 17 four-axle electric locomotives and 10 EMUs for the Dar es Salaam – Morogoro – Dodoma line for which the South Korean manufacturer let a subcontract worth KC580m for then Škoda Transportation (now Škoda Group) for the supply of electrical equipment for the locos.
Pesa – Talgo co-operation
Talgo and Pesa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on September 24 at InnoTrans to co-operate on the development and production of future high speed trainsets for the Polish and neighbouring markets.
The two suppliers write that the agreement covers the exploratory works to prepare later agreements for the high speed train procurements expected to be called in Poland next year, and for the collaboration on other opportunities.
Talks on co-operation between Talgo and Pesa have been going on for over two years, therefore the companies write that their consortium is prepared to present an offer of high speed vehicles for the Polish and neighbouring markets.
‘It is for us a pleasure to enter into a preliminary collaboration with Pesa, a conventional rail vehicle specialist with a strong presence in Poland and neighbouring countries and a deep and precious knowledge of the Polish rail market. We look forward to demonstrating the capabilities of our very high speed platform Talgo Avril, already in service in Spain, and the modularity and interoperability of Intercity 230, our range of long-distance trains to be deployed soon in Denmark and Germany and that we are showcasing here in Berlin, at InnoTrans 2024,’ Carlos Palacio, President of Talgo said.
‘Pesa has been working on the development of a high speed train project for several years. From the beginning, we assumed that we would implement this project with a technology partner. The potential of Talgo and Pesa complement each other, and I am convinced that together we will offer a vehicle that will perfectly fit the needs of carriers on the Polish market and in the entire Three Seas region,’ Krzysztof Zdziarski, President and CEO of Pesa said.
Newag – Hyundai Rotem talks continue
Newag has announced on September 26 at InnoTrans that it continued discussions with Hyundai Rotem for the joint development of high speed trainsets for Poland. This is a continuation of a co-operation for what the two suppliers signed a MOU at the Trako fair in Gdańsk in September 2023.
Need for high speed in Poland
Polish high speed rail project promoter Centralny Port Komunikacyjny is working on the development of an air hub between Łódź and Warszawa and a Y-shaped high speed rail network to link the cities of Warszawa and Łódź, with later extensions to Wrocław and Poznań.
‘We hope that the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny high speed rail programme will give an impulse for Polish domestic train manufacturers to get the knowledge and the know-how to be able to develop a high speed train,’ told Piotr Rachwalski to Railway Gazette International on September 25 at InnoTrans. Rachwalski has been appointed as Member of the Management Board of CPK in August.
‘There aren’t many railway companies on the market that are able to build high speed trainsets at the moment. We would encourage the Polish suppliers to get the experience as the market would benefit from more competition,’ says Rachwalski.
