The largest contract in the history of Polish railways: PKP Intercity buys 42 Alstom trains

Polish railroad company PKP Intercity has selected Alstom Polska as the winner of a tender for the supply of 42 Coradia Max double-deck electric trains with an option for 30 more. The company will manufacture the trains at its plant in Chorzów, according to . PKP.

During the contract signing ceremony, Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak called this agreement the largest contract for the purchase of rolling stock in the history of the Polish railroad.

The contract is worth 6.9 billion zlotys (almost $1.9 billion) – 4.1 billion for the supply of trains and about 2.8 billion for their maintenance for 30 years.

Alstom's offer was almost 400 million zlotys cheaper than Stadler Polska's, which wanted to sell KISS electric trains.

The new double-decker trains will reach speeds of up to 200 km/h and will run on the most popular routes from Warsaw to Gdansk, Lodz, Olsztyn, Wroclaw, Krakow, Bialystok and Terespol. Each train will accommodate more than 500 passengers and will be equipped with Wi-Fi, power outlets, vending machines and bicycle racks.

Deliveries will begin in about three and a half years.

• Ukrzaliznytsia is negotiating with Korea to purchase 20 Intercity trains .
• For Euro 2012, Ukraine has purchased 10 South Korean Hyundai, which make up the majority of rolling stock of the Ukrainian High-Speed Railroad Company.