Railway of Moldova to have 12 new locomotives

Chisinau, 6 November /MOLDPRES/ - The state enterprise Railway of Moldova (CFM) will buy 12 new main-line locomotives. The CFM administration and representatives of the American company General Electric Transportation signed a contract to this effect in Chisinau today.  

At the signing event, CFM director Iurie Topala said that the locomotives would cost 45 million euros and the producing company had obligation to supply them till 2020.  

According to Topala, the tender for the purchasing of the locomotives was held in two stages, which implies the analysis of the bid’s technical and financial conditions. Five technical bids were made within the first stage and only two of the files were submitted in the second phase. The files were selected by a commission of experts from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB), as well as of specialists from the state enterprise Railway of Moldova.  

The locomotives will have an engine capacity of 2,982 KW and will meet the ecological standards. They will move on all route from Moldova and will be involved mostly in the freight transport.  

The plan on the procurement of locomotives is part of the Project on Restructuring and Reorganization of the state enterprise Railway of Moldova, financed by EBRD, EIB and European Union. The overall cost of the project is of 110 million euros, of which five million is provided as grant on behalf of the Neighbourhood Investment Fund; another 250,000 euros is offered to implement the information system of energy management and 1.5 million euros is allocated for technical assistance from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.

(Reporter A. Zara, editor M. Jantovan)