Stadler Intercity Electric Multiple Units for GYSEV

Stadler and Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút (GYSEV) Plc. have signed a contract for the supply of nine plus optionally four FLIRT Intercity electric multiple units. The vehicles will be operated by the railway company on the Sopron-Budapest and Szombathely-Budapest routes from 2027, Stadler Trains Hungary Plc. informed MTI on Wednesday.

In the statement, the signing of the contract is said to be of historic importance for the railways, as the last time new Intercity motor trains were purchased in Hungary was 30 years ago.

The dual-current vehicles will be able to operate not only in Hungary but also in Austria. The carriages of the five-carriage, state-of-the-art trainsets are manufactured at Stadler's plant in Szolnok.

The entry into force of the supply contract is subject to the conclusion of a financing contract. GYSEV will finance the purchase with an EIB loan.

GYSEV Plc. will have to decide within three months from the entry into force of the contract how many option trains it will order. According to the delivery schedule, the first vehicle will be delivered by Stadler in the 36th month after the entry into force of the contract, while the last unit of the basic order will be placed in service within 44 months.

Stadler will then have a further two years to obtain the necessary licenses to operate the trains in Austria.

Between 2013 and 2018, the railway company has already ordered 20 FLIRT trains from Stadler in three procurements.

It was noted that the new Intercity vehicles will be different from the previously acquired fleet. In addition to a maintenance-friendly design, the manufacturer will equip the vehicles with state-of-the-art electric traction motors that will allow the trains to operate at lower energy consumption levels, which will also reduce the costs over the lifetime of the vehicle.

The five-carriage vehicles, which can reach speeds of 160 kilometers per hour, are 106.2 meters long and the number of seats can be flexibly varied depending on the summer and winter seating arrangements. The winter configuration offers 280 seats, 32 of which are first class. In the summer, when the demand for bicycles is higher, the second-class seating can be reduced in to transport 18 bicycles.

The new vehicles are built to international standards which came into force at the end of last year. They will be equipped with state-of-the-art passenger information systems, security cameras and sockets for charging phones, tablets and laptops. They will have air-conditioned and low-floor passenger compartments and disabled toilets.

The FLIRT model is Stadler's most successful product, with more than 2,500 units sold in 21 countries since 2002, according to the announcement. In Hungary, 20 of the vehicles are operated by GYSEV and 123 by MÁV. Stadler's factory in Szolnok has been involved in the production of almost 1,000 FLIRT trains, which corresponds to 3,883 carriages.

As part of the signed order, a total of 65 FLIRT IC carriages can be produced in Szolnok for GYSEV, depending on the total number of option orders.

Stadler, a manufacturer of large railway locomotives, shunting locomotives and passenger coaches, employs around 14,000 people. The group's headquarters are located in Bussnang in Eastern Switzerland.