December 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian railway company BDZ Passengers, part of state-owned railway group BDZ Holding, has signed a contract worth 91.2 million levs ($51 million/46.6 million euro) with the Siemens Tron consortium, led by Siemens Mobility, for the purchase and maintenance of another ten Smartron electric locomotives, the ministry of transport in Sofia said.
Delivery of the first locomotive under the four-year contract is expected within 18 months, with the remaining nine to be delivered no later than two years after the signing of the contract, the ministry said in a press release on Monday.
The purchase will increase the total number of Siemens Smartron locomotives in BDZ's rolling stock to 25, ensuring more efficient train schedules which are currently disrupted due to a shortage of locomotives, the ministry added.
The Bulgarian state-owned railway company acquired 15 Siemens Smartron locomotives for a total price of 82.7 million levs in 2021.
Last week, BDZ Passengers signed two contracts worth nearly 85 million levs with Siemens Tron for the supply of spare parts and maintenance of the 15 Smartron locomotives in operation.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)