BUDAPEST: After a state body cleared complaints about the procurement process, Budapest public transport company BKV and Russiaʼs Metrowagonmash signed a €219 mln underground carriage renovation contract yesterday for Budapest’s metro line 3, BKV said yesterday, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.
It was announced in early June that Metrowagonmash won a tender to renovate 37 trains on the line, extending their lifespan by 25 years. In mid-July Skinest Rail submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission over the public procurement procedure begun by BKV for the modernization and renovation of the vehicles on the line. It was reported earlier this week that the Public Procurement Arbitration Board (KDB) cleared the signing of a €219 mln underground carriage renovation contract between BKV and Metrowagonmash.
BKV Zrt. asked the KDB in a letter to approve the signing of the contract “as soon as possible”, as the underground line is in such bad condition that operations could be halted at any minute, and bypassing the line with replacement buses would cost HUF 23 bln each month, Hungarian online daily index.hu reported yesterday.
