Battery-powered trains for the Moravian-Silesian region will leave on December 4, manufacturers and politicians believe

Four dual-source units with batteries (BEMU) for the operation of the Czech Railways in the Moravian-Silesian region should leave in time on December 4. Regional deputy Jakub Unucka told Deník Zdopravy.cz.

“It’s the situation today, anything can happen. But if there are no extraordinary circumstances, the trains will be delivered on time,” assured Unuck. Michal Krapinec, head of railways, also expressed his firm belief that the four battery units will be deployed in the Moravian-Silesian region on time this December.

Jan Švehla, spokesman for Škoda Group, which will supply the units to the Czech Railways, sees it the same way. “The production of the first Czech battery trains is proceeding according to plan and we are counting on delivery to the customer for use in the new schedule,” said Švehla.

Performance in June

The unit should be physically presented to the public at this year’s Rail Business Days 2024. Both regional deputy Unucka and Škoda Group spokesperson Švehla agreed on this. The railway fair takes place in the Trojhalí Karolina complex in Ostrava in mid-June.

As a BEMU, the RegioPanter can travel up to 80 km at a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The batteries located on the roof will then be continuously recharged by driving under the traction line or recuperating energy during braking. The region promises to start the operation of direct trains on the route Veřovice – Ostrava from the four new BEMU units.

Charging stations in three cities, facilities in Frýdek-Místek

In order for the new units to have somewhere to recharge, the Railway Administration (SŽ) is preparing the necessary charging points (charging trolleys) in accordance with the requirements of the Moravian-Silesian Region. They are counted in Štramberk, Budišov nad Budišovka and Krnov.

“For these buildings, the project plans are currently being finalized and the costs are calculated, everything will then be submitted for discussion and approval to the central committee of the Ministry of Transport. We then expect the works themselves to be carried out in the mentioned stations in the course of the next year,” said SŽ spokesman Dušan Gavenda.

As Gavenda added, in addition to the aforementioned charging points, SŽ is also planning to build a facility for decommissioning new battery units, namely at the Frýdek-Místek station.

“The documentation for the investment is being processed, and in this case too, implementation is to take place in 2025,” concluded Gavenda.

Additional costs for the Moravian-Silesian battery railway experiment. Chargers cost up to 80 million crowns

More expensive than electric

As the newspaper Zdopravy.cz previously reported, the BEMU units were ordered by Czech Railways without competition from the consortium Škoda Transportation and Škoda Vagonka from the framework contract for the supply of classic electric units. České dráhy, as a carrier, claims that it is basically the same type of unit. ČD will pay an additional 35.1 million crowns without VAT for the conversion of each train, a total of 140.4 million crowns extra.

One BEMU 160 unit will thus cost 152 million crowns. The Moravian-Silesian Region, which ordered the operation of these units, will pay the difference in the higher price of transport performance.

Penalty for non-compliance with the law

The non-competitive transaction had an impact at the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition (ÚOHS). The authority fined the carrier 6 million crowns for illegally changing the obligation from the contract, when instead of manufacturing and delivering “19 EMU 160 electric units for regional transport” the client requested production and delivery i “4 pcs of electric units equipped with battery drive”.

An appeal was filed against the decision, and the second-instance proceedings are now underway. This was stated by ÚOHS spokesman Martin Švanda.

Another 15 BEMU

Czech Railways is under more deadline pressure in the case of up to 15 more BEMUs for the Moravian-Silesian Region, for which they have already launched a regular competition before Christmas 2022. However, the tender deadline was still being pushed, and the final bids were supposed to be submitted by April 19. Krapinec believes that the tracks will be able to choose the winner within about 14 days.

The planned deployment date is December 2025, while the manufacturer should have at least two years to supply. “It’s very ambitious, I still believe in my gut that if the manufacturer pulls all the stops, we could make it to the deadline,” added Krapinec. According to him, in the event of a delay, the railways will face possible sanctions from the region.

A significant snag can be the possible resolution of the tender at the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition, if someone were to contact it.

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battery-powered trains BEMU Czech Railways Moravian-Silesian Region MSK Škoda Group battery-powered trains

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