The hybrid units should be used on the Casa Branca-Beja stretches (Alentejo line), but they should only start circulating from 2025 or 2026. They are Flirt model 160 ordered from Stadler's Swiss.
Second electronic newspaper Dinheiro Vivo, Global Media Group publication, the Court of Auditors made the acquisition possible three years after the deal was announced. Motor vehicles should only arrive from 2025 or 2026, obliging Spain to extend the rolling stock lease and CP can finally order the 22 new trains for regional service.
Approved by the Government in September 2018, railcars should only start running from 2025 or 2026. The situation will force the carrier to extend the lease of diesel units from the Spanish counterpart Renfe.
Only last week was the railway company authorized to order the 22 new trains to the swiss from Stadler. The Court of Auditors (TdC) made the acquisition possible, no value 158,14 million, of 12 hybrid units – to also circulate on non-electrified lines – and 10 electrical units. The authorization was necessary because it was a public contract above the 350 thousand euros.
extended lease
CP order is now ready to go to Switzerland. The successive delays, yet, oblige the public company to curb expectations of the first new units coming into circulation. “We now estimate the delivery of Stadler units starting in 2025/2026”, anticipates the carrier.
The delay in the arrival of the new trains forces CP to resort to house silver. On electrified lines, the company bets on the recovery of rolling stock, like locomotives 2600, and even carriages like the Schindler and the Arco – these were purchased from Spain in mid- 2020.
For lines without catenary, the carrier even admitted to modernizing the series railcars 450 from the middle of this year but it is not known whether the process has advanced.
What trains were ordered?
The new compositions will circulate on regional lines such as Douro, Algarve, West and still in Évora and Beja. The hybrid units should be used on the Casa Branca-Beja stretches (Alentejo line) and Régua-Pocinho (Douro line), that will not be electrified in the coming years.
O Flirt 160 was the model chosen by the Swiss company to enter this contest. It is a single-deck regional train, that can be easily customized to CP needs. This railcar can use between two and eight carriages, being prepared to drive with electric traction, hybrid or diesel only.
The train also has wide doors, low floor, that facilitate the entry of children, elderly and people with reduced mobility, or baby strollers or bicycles.
