EUROPE: Subsidiaries of Chinese rolling stock group CRRC delivered passenger trainsets to two operators in southeast Europe during April.
CRRC Changchun has delivered the first of five electric multiple-units ordered by Serbian national operator Srbija Voz.
The €54m order was signed by Minister of Construction, Transport & Infrastructure Goran Vesić in Beijing in October 2023. The EMU arrived at the Slovenian port of Koper on April 25 this year. On April 28 it was hauled by Slovenian freight operator SŽ-Tp through Croatia to Šid, and from there was hauled to the Zemun depot west of Beograd.
The four-car unit is 104·48 m long with 242 seats, including 45 in first class. The CRRC trainsets are to be branded Soko (falcon), as were the Stadler Kiss EMUs which were delivered in 2021-22 and are now in use on 200 km/h services on the upgraded line between Beograd and Novi Sad.
Separately, on April 23 CRRC Sifang delivered a three-car 160 km/h electric trainset to Romanian operator Astra Trans Carpatic, which is to deploy it on services from București to Brașov and Constanţa.
