Poland's PESA Completes Delivery of 20 Regional EMUs to Romania

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 30, Polish rolling stock manufacturer PESA announced that it had completed the full delivery of 20 RE-IR 102 three-car Regio160 regional electric multiple units under its base contract with the Romanian Railway Reform Authority (ARF). All trains have completed inspection, acceptance and handover in accordance with the revised schedule.

The base contract was signed in December 2023, valued at EUR 167,971,357, with delivery originally scheduled for 2027. Under a supplementary agreement signed at ARF's request in May 2025, the delivery schedule was brought forward to the end of October 2026. At the same time, ARF exercised an option to purchase 9 additional trains of the same type, valued at EUR 75,587,110, scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2027. The total contract value, including the option, is EUR 243,558,468.

The trains are three-car 25 kV 50 Hz EMUs with a maximum operating speed of 160 km/h. The trains are equipped with ETCS onboard equipment and the Romanian PZB 90 train protection system, with a power output of 1,600 kW, a length of 77.2 meters and approximately 192 seats. These technical parameters correspond to the operational requirements of intercity and medium- to long-distance routes.

The 20 trains under the base order will enter service on seven routes. Specifically: Reșița Sud–Timișoara Nord, Cluj-Napoca–Craiova, Brașov–Iași, Galați–Iași/Suceava, Galați–Constanța, Constanța–Iași/Suceava, and Bucharest–Călărași. The trains will be operated by Romanian state railway passenger operator CFR Călători under public service contracts.

PESA is also responsible for 15 years of fleet maintenance, carried out using local Romanian resources and technical personnel. PESA CEO Krzysztof Zdziarski said that completing the base contract delivery in such a short time was a "major organizational challenge," but the company "completed the task strictly in line with customer requirements"; PESA's Romanian legal representative Hanna Wiśniewska-Sirbu attributed the completion of delivery to cooperation with ARF and local institutions.

The project is financed by the EU Modernisation Fund, covering the entire investment including VAT. The relevant financing contract was signed in April 2026 by the Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and ARF, with the 20 regional EMUs included in the financing framework together with 16 Alstom Traxx passenger electric locomotives, with a total investment exceeding EUR 250 million (including VAT).