The Romanian state, through ARF, signed a 3.2 billion lei contract on Tuesday for the purchase of 62 regional electric trains from the Polish company PESA. The first should arrive in 2026, and all should be in the country by 2027. As it has been in recent years, there will definitely be delays.

Train from PESAPhoto: Shutterstock

62 trains will run on ten routes, the purchase is divided into three lots. PESA officials said that this type of train is running with passengers in the Czech Republic, and 200 trains have been ordered to reach Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden and Poland.

There is no PESA train in Romania, but there are trams in three cities in the country.

PESA employs 4,000 people at its Polish factories in Bydgoszcz and Minsk-Mazowiecki and has business relationships with 1,500 suppliers. The company’s trams run in such cities as Iasi, Craiova, Cluj, Warsaw, Kyiv, Sofia and Moscow. Its trains are used by such companies as Deutsche Bahn, Trenitalia, Ceske Drahy, PKP and Belarusian Railways.

These 62 electric trains are close-range and will become the “bone” of the metros, which will serve areas of large cities with high traffic intensity, for rail passenger transportation.

Where will PESA trains run?

The purchase is divided into 3 lots as follows:

1. 20 electric trains on routes

Bucharest North – Ploiesti South – Adjud

Iasi – Pashkany – Suceava

Bacau – Pascan

2. 23 electric trains on routes

Brasov – Georgeni

Arad – Timisoara – Karancebes

Huedyn – Cluj – Bistrica

3. 19 electric trains on routes

Bucharest North – Ploiesti West – Brasov

North Bucharest – Rosiori

Bucharest North – Bucharest Obor/Fundulea

Constanza – Feteshti

The Elf2 model trains reach a speed of 160 km/h and have spaces for bicycles as well as for people with disabilities.

In addition to the actual purchase of electric frames, the contract provides for the purchase of maintenance and repair services for a period of 15 years, with the possibility of extending this period to 30 years by concluding an additional act.