October 20 (SeeNews) - The RailWorks consortium, led by French multinational rolling stock manufacturer Alstom, is the winner of a 1.61 billion lei ($320 million/ 327 million euro) contract for the upgrade of the Cluj Napoca-Aghires railway section in Romania, railway operator CFR said on Thursday.
The project has to be designed and executed within 42 months, CFR said in a press release.
The financing will be provided from non-reimbursable EU funds under Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The infrastructure and superstructure of the railway section will be upgraded in order to allow for a maximum travel speed of 160 km/h for passenger trains and 120 km/h for freight trains.
The RailWorks consortium comprises France-headquartered Alstom as leader, Greece's Aktor and Romanian companies Arcada and Euroconstruct, according to information posted on Alstom's website.
According to CFR, the signing of the public procurement contract will be possible after the expiration of the period for submitting any appeals and, respectively, after the settlement of all appeals and complaints made after the tender.
The rehabilitation of the Cluj Napoca-Aghires section is part of a bigger investment project for the upgrade the entire Cluj Napoca-Oradea-Episcopia Bihor-Frontiera 166.2 km long railway.
In September, Romania's Railway Reform Authority, ARF, announced that Alstom will supply 17 inter-regional trains to Romania under a contract signed in March. The value of the contract for a total of 37 inter-regional trains and associated 15-year maintenance services is 2.42 billion lei.
(1 euro =4.9246 Romanian lei)
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