PKP close to signing fast train contract
PKP plans to use the trains, supplied by Fiat Ferroviaria, on its Gdansk-Warsaw-Krakow route. In July 1998, the company beat out German companies Adtranz and Siemens for the tender and will provide PKP with 16 Pendolino "tilting trains," which can reach speeds of 250 kilometers per hour. The trains will be built in Italy "with cooperation from Polish industries," said Maciej Brzozowski, spokesman for Fiat in Poland. Fifty percent of the train's value will be Polish.
Although a contract between Fiat and PKP has not yet been finalized, Brzozowski said he expects the signing to take place within two months. "We are now in talks as far as technical and financial problems are concerned," Brzozowski said.
Most of the technical issues have been solved, and the focus is now on Fiat Ferroviaria's helping PKP obtain financing for the new trains.
Henryk Mysliwiec, press spokesman of the management board for PKP, said that Fiat will put together a list of institutions interested in financing the purchase. He did not disclose names, however.
Brzozowski refused to say whether Fiat would guarantee any loans or credit for PKP. "It depends on the source of financing," he said, adding that "it is not excluded."
After Fiat Ferroviaria won the tender, the company began negotiations with several Polish companies to produce components for the Pendolino trains. Research center TABOR in Poznan will certify the trains for use. Final assembly of the Pendolino trains will take place at the Alstom-Konstal manufacturing plant in Chorzow, where salon interiors will be chosen and installed. Another factory in Chorzow, Elkop, will supply control and light panels, and ZNLE in Gliwice will work on servicing the Pendelino trains.
The Pendelino trains will appear on Polish rails two years after the contract is signed. However, one test train will be sent to Poland from Italy within the year, the executives said. Where the train will operate or whether it will carry passengers is unclear. In 1994 the first Pendolino was tested on the Gdansk-Warszawa-Katowice line.
Pendolinos currently operate in Italy, Germany and Switzerland. The high-speed train is also planned for Spain, Portugal, Finland and Great Britain.
Rail trips from Gdynia to Krakow or Katowice, which cover a distance of approximately 600 kilometers, can take as long as nine hours. With the six-car Pendelino trains, the distance could be covered in half the time. Trips to Wroclaw, which now take five to six hours, could be made in as little as four hours.
Although a contract between Fiat and PKP has not yet been finalized, Brzozowski said he expects the signing to take place within two months. "We are now in talks as far as technical and financial problems are concerned," Brzozowski said.
Most of the technical issues have been solved, and the focus is now on Fiat Ferroviaria's helping PKP obtain financing for the new trains.
Henryk Mysliwiec, press spokesman of the management board for PKP, said that Fiat will put together a list of institutions interested in financing the purchase. He did not disclose names, however.
Brzozowski refused to say whether Fiat would guarantee any loans or credit for PKP. "It depends on the source of financing," he said, adding that "it is not excluded."
After Fiat Ferroviaria won the tender, the company began negotiations with several Polish companies to produce components for the Pendolino trains. Research center TABOR in Poznan will certify the trains for use. Final assembly of the Pendolino trains will take place at the Alstom-Konstal manufacturing plant in Chorzow, where salon interiors will be chosen and installed. Another factory in Chorzow, Elkop, will supply control and light panels, and ZNLE in Gliwice will work on servicing the Pendelino trains.
The Pendelino trains will appear on Polish rails two years after the contract is signed. However, one test train will be sent to Poland from Italy within the year, the executives said. Where the train will operate or whether it will carry passengers is unclear. In 1994 the first Pendolino was tested on the Gdansk-Warszawa-Katowice line.
Pendolinos currently operate in Italy, Germany and Switzerland. The high-speed train is also planned for Spain, Portugal, Finland and Great Britain.
Rail trips from Gdynia to Krakow or Katowice, which cover a distance of approximately 600 kilometers, can take as long as nine hours. With the six-car Pendelino trains, the distance could be covered in half the time. Trips to Wroclaw, which now take five to six hours, could be made in as little as four hours.
