“We’ll have new trains – 16 at first to replace our old ones and then more to cover the new subway lines we’ll open,” Metrorex general manager Gheorghe Udriste said Friday at the opening of two new stations on the subway’s mainline 4.
Metrorex in April said it was seeking to buy 16 new trains for mainlines 1, 2 and 3, to replace the old IVA Astra trains.
The contract will run for 38 months and is financed by a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and from the state budget.
The acquisition of the 16 trains is part of a bigger plan, to buy 21 more trains and build a fifth subway mainline, according to a loan agreement for EUR395 million Romania signed with the EIB in 2009.
Metrorex’ current subway train fleet is made up of 44 new Bombardier trains and 31 old IVA Astra trains.