Romanian tender for hydrogen-powered electric trains fails again

The tender procedure was cancelled automatically in the public procurement system, SEAP, after no offers were submitted, the RRA said in a press release on Tuesday.

The tendered contract is worth between 1.6 billion and 2.5 billion lei, depending on the duration of auxiliary services such as maintenance and repairs, according to a SEAP tender notice. Financed under Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the train acquisition alone is valued at 868.9 million lei, of which 528.9 million lei is funded through European grants while the remainder constitutes a state contribution, the RRA said in a press release in April 2023.

The auction was first cancelled in February 2023, when it had also failed to attract offers, the RRA said in a social media post at the time. The tender was relaunched and subsequently cancelled a second time in November 2023 as the sole offer submitted by a consortium comprising French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom and the Romanian subsidiary of global industrial gases and engineering company Linde Gas was non-compliant, according to the RRA.

Manufacturers are reluctant to participate in the tender due to tight deadlines dictated by the implementation of the NRRP, RRA president Stefan Roseanu told local broadcaster ProTV on Thursday.

On the other hand, industry representatives argue that the technical documentation requirements cannot be fulfilled by any producer, highlighting issues with the established criteria, Ionut Ciurea, VP and executive director at Pro Infrastructure Association, told ProTV.

The RRA will initiate new market consultations to determine a future strategy for the acquisition of the twelve trains powered by hydrogen fuel cells, .

(1 euro=4.9766 lei)