SKM Warsaw signs contract for 21 new trains with Newag – at a distance

A signing ceremony with a difference took place on Tuesday 7 April as Alan Beroud, president of the board of Szybka Kolei Miejska, and Zbigniew Konieczek, CEO of Newag, signed a contract for the supply of 21 new trains for Warsaw SKM.

We’ve all seen photos of typical signing ceremonies. Two men, sitting side by side, each sign a book. Then they stand, swap books and formally shake hands to clinch the deal.

But in these days of social distancing, they can’t do that.

Instead, Alan Beroud and Zbigniew Konieczek signed in their offices, and then ‘shook hands’ over the internet!

It was almost a bit of fun, but the contract was serious enough. It is for the supply of 21 Impuls 2 trains to Szybka Kolej Miejska (Fast City Rail), the rail operator that uses national rail network to provide services in the Warsaw metropolitan. It forms part of the city’s integrated public transport system, organised by the Warsaw Transport Authority, and carried 22 million passengers a year.

Newag will manufacture and supply 15 five-car and 6 four-car trains, the first two of which will be supplied by February 2022 with the rest following by November of the same year. They will be based at SKM’s depot in the Odolany district of Warsaw.

The contract also includes providing training to SKM’s employees and carrying out inspections and repairs for a period of seven years.

Newag president Zbigniew Konieczek said: “In 2012, we delivered the first IMPULS vehicles manufactured by Newag for Warsaw SKM. Today, after eight years, by continuing our cooperation, we can deliver our new generation vehicles – IMPULS 2.”

Alan Beroud, president of SKM Warsaw, responded: “This is good news for the residents of the capital and towns near Warsaw, especially those commuting to work every day. The new Impuls 2 trains from Newag will increase the comfort of their everyday travel.”

The new electric multiple units will be equipped with monitoring systems, a modern passenger information system, ticket machines, Wi-Fi hotspot, USB chargers and life-saving AEDs (utomated external defibrillators). The vehicles will be air-conditioned and fully accessible by people with limited mobility.

This is the largest purchase in the history of Warsaw SKM. The value of the entire contract will be 668 million Polish Zloty (£129 million) and includes 203 million Zloty (£39 million) of EU funding, which the carrier obtained in 2018.