Summary：The Latvian procurement authority has given the national rail passenger carrier Pasazieru Vilciens the permission t...

The Latvian procurement authority has given the national rail passenger carrier Pasazieru Vilciens the permission to conclude a train purchase contract with the Czech supplier Skoda Vagonka (Skoda), the Procurement Monitoring Bureau announced on Wednesday.

The Procurement Monitoring Bureau said it had rejected a complaint filed by Spain's Patentes Talgo S.L. about the outcome of the tender as groundless. Pasazieru Vilciens therefore can go ahead with the purchase of 32 new passenger trains from the Czech company, which has been declared winner of the train supply tender.

Patentes Talgo S.L.had lodged the complaint saying that Skoda had to prove its trains indeed had the energy saving properties allowing to consume less electricity than the trains offered by the Spanish company. It also claimed that the price asked by the Czech rival was unreasonably low.

However, the Procurement Monitoring Bureau dismissed the Spanish company's complaint as groundless, indicating that the technical solutions offered by Skoda allowed for saving 5 percent of energy.

Pasazieru Vilciens CEO Rodzers Janis Grigulis told media representatives that the rail company still has to wait for the government's final decision on the financing for the train purchase deal.

Skoda has offered to supply the trains to Pasazieru Vilciens for 242 million euros.

In November 2018, the Latvian government earmarked 259 million euros for the purchase of the new passenger trains, their spare parts and maintenance equipment, as well as construction of a new railway depot. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)