ŠKODA VAGONKA producing 10 commuter trains for Slovak customer for CZK 2.5 billion

PLZEŇ, OSTRAVA, January 15, 2008 – ŠKODA VAGONKA, a. s., intends to produce and supply 10 commuter trains for a customer in Slovakia, and the new double-decker electric train cars will improve mass rail transportation for passengers in the city regions of Trenčín, Žilina and Košice, under a contract worth a total of EUR 96.2 million, which is about CZK 2.5 billion.
“Modern commuter trains manufactured by the company ŠKODA VAGONKA have greatly improved the quality of transportation for passengers commuting on their way to and from work in the vicinity of large Czech cities, and so we hope they will also be welcomed in Slovakia,” said Tomáš Krsek, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ŠKODA VAGONKA, a.s., and General Manager of the company ŠKODA TRANSPORTATION, s. r. o. “This arrangement involves exporting a technically high demanding product worth CZK 2.5 billion and recognizing the value of the excellent and quality work of Czech development workers. I don't think there are many such large contracts for such sophisticated products with the high added value of work during a typical year in the Czech Republic,” he added.
The customer is Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a. s. Bratislava. The new trains will boost passenger rail transport first in the Žilina area, where the transportation situation has been very demanding since the start of manufacturing in the KIA Motors Slovakia automobile plant and where highway traffic is very congested.
The developed commuter trains for this Slovak customer will be in the form of CityElefant rail cars (electric units of series 471 as operated by Czech Railways and series 575 as supplied to Lithuania), but they will also be trains with two systems that are capable of traveling under AC 25 kV 50 or under DC 3 kV.

The new electric unit for commuter and regional transport in Slovakia has an output of 2 MW and can carry passengers at a speed of up to 160 km/h. It has a modern camera system that monitors the situation inside and outside of the train, a new guidance system with a high degree of automation and other new features.
This electric unit consists of three vehicles, specifically an electric vehicle, an attached vehicle and a vehicle for driving the train. The front parts of the electric and driving vehicle have areas for the train engineer. Each of the vehicles has two doors on each side and two floors, and the trains are equipped with vacuum system toilet facilities. The unit is 79.2 m long and is intended to seat 307 passengers.
The train manufacturer is ŠKODA VAGONKA, a. s. (Ostrava), and its sub-suppliers are ŠKODA TRANSPORTATION, s. r. o. and ŠKODA ELECTRIC, a. s. The contract was signed on December 30, 2008, and the deadline for delivery of the first train unit is 18 months after the contract signing. The last vehicle will be supplied within 47 months after the signing of the contract with the Slovak customer.

For more information contact:
Miroslav Novák,
AMI Communications,
Mobile: 776 207 224
miroslav.novak@amic.cz