Romania had big plans when it launched a tender in April 2019 to buy 40+40 electric units with maintenance for 15 years. In September 2019, it was announced that the winner would be the association of CRRC and Astra Vagoane Arad, which triggered a wave of court proceedings. The tender was eventually cancelled.
However, Chinese manufacturer CRRC Sifang is not giving up on delivering its trains to Romania. Even though Alstom won the replacement tender, the Chinese manufacturer has transported its new unit, SFEMU EU01, to Romania. It arrived by ship at the port of Constanţa and arrived in the capital, Bucharest, on 23.04.2024. Its new operator is Astra TransCarpatic, a company belonging to the Astra Group that manufactures railway wagons—of course, provided that the unit passes the test operation in European conditions and is granted type approval by ERA. The first step, compatibility with European TSI standards, has been completed.
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