“We signed up for the 28-streetcar tender in Arad and for the 100-streetcar tender in Bucharest. To be able to participate in the tender in Bucharest, which set a revenue criterion, we teamed up with China’s CRRC Sifang, with which we had been in talks for five years,” Valer Blidar told ZF.
He is one of the few entrepreneurs who owns plants build during the massive industrialization of Romania in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
CRRC Sifang is a subsidiary of CRRC Corporation, one of the largest suppliers or rolling stock worldwide.
Astra Vagoane Calatori was the only bidder in the streetcar tenders in Cluj-Napoca, Oradea and Galati, which it owns. The plant will assemble 62 streetcars for those cities.
“Out plant will be working at capacity starting May, we’ve got work for the next three to four years with the contracts we’ve won so far.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)