Khmelnytsky Municipal Enterprise Electrontrans has signed an agreement with the winner of a tender for the supply of new trolleybuses funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a combination of Chernihiv Automobile Plant LLC and Politechnoservice LLC (Kyiv region), Khmelnytsky Mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn said.
“We have signed an agreement with the winner of the tender for the purchase of 42 new trolleybuses. This will allow us to almost completely renew the trolleybus fleet and not return to this issue for years,” Symchyshyn wrote on Facebook.
As reported, on January 10, 2024, Electrotrans, together with the EBRD, announced a tender for the purchase of 44 units of new trolleybuses, as well as spare parts and diagnostic equipment, under the EBRD’s Green Cities program. Later, the number of trolleybuses was updated to 42.
In April 2023, the EBRD announced a EUR10.6 million loan to Khmelnytskyi’s Electrotrans for the purchase of trolleybuses, maintenance and diagnostic equipment. It was noted that the EBRD loan is part of a financial package that also includes investment grants from the EU and the US totaling EUR 4.45 million.
“For these funds, we are purchasing 44 trolleybuses along with spare parts and diagnostic equipment,” Symchyshyn wrote, adding that the winner of the tender for the purchase of 42 trolleybuses offered a lower than expected price, which allows the city to buy two more trolleybuses with the saved funds.
According to him, the plant is to deliver 42 trolleybuses to Khmelnytsky within 62 weeks, including 34 with a range of up to 2 km and eight trolleybuses with a range of up to 20 km.
The first five trolleybuses are to be delivered by the end of 2024.
The Etalon low-floor trolleybuses with electronics from Politechnoservice are equipped with air conditioning for the driver’s and passenger compartments, a screw compressor to reduce noise in the cabin, an information system, and USB connectors for charging phones.
“All the power electronics of the vehicles, as well as the autonomous driving systems, are made in Ukraine,” said Symchyshyn.
The project “Framework Program for the Development of Public Transport in Ukraine 2, Khmelnytskyi Trolleybus” is part of the EBRD’s Green Cities program, which Khmelnytskyi joined in 2019.
The municipal enterprise of urban electric transport Zaporozhelektrotorans has announced two tenders for the purchase of new low-floor trolleybuses and electric buses within the framework of the project “Urban Public Transport of Ukraine” financed with funds from the European Investment Bank (EIB), according to the August 4 EU Official Gazette announcement made public in ProZorro on Monday.
The first tender with an estimated value of EUR4.03 million excluding VAT (including EUR3.03 million EU Neighborhood Investment Platform (NIP) grant) involves the purchase of fully low-floor trolleybuses 11.9 – 12.7 m long with dynamic charging from the catenary network, equipped with a battery for autonomous running. The contract amount includes equipment and tools for maintenance, a set of spare parts, and related services.
Passenger capacity of the trolleybus is at least 100 people, including 30 (+/-10%) seated. Folding seats are not allowed, but there must be one seat for a passenger in a wheelchair and four for passengers with low mobility.
Bids are scheduled to be opened on September 19, 2023, with the arrival date of the first shipment no later than eight months from the date of receipt of the advance payment, for a total contract period of 11 months.
According to experts’ estimates, 14-16 trolleybuses can be purchased for this amount.
The second tender for an estimated contract amount of EUR9.84 million of EIB funds involves the purchase of two-axle low-floor electric buses with a length of 12.5 meters (+/-0.5 meters), including charging stations.
The expected passenger capacity is at least 105 people, including 30 (+/- 10%) seating places. The cabin must have one seat for a passenger in a wheelchair, seats for passengers with low mobility, and a seat for a guide dog.
The contract period is 12 months and the first shipment must be delivered no later than 9 months from the date of receipt of the advance payment.
Disclosure of bids is scheduled for September 20.
Price is not the only criterion for awarding these contracts, but all criteria are specified in the procurement documents only.
Communal enterprise Elektroavtotrans (Ivano-Frankivsk), together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), has announced a tender for the purchase of new trolleybuses with a possibility of making at least 10 km in off-wire mode with a length of 16.5 meters to 18.54 meters (articulated) for EUR 3.615 million.
According to the procurement announcement posted in ProZorro, it is planned to supply new low-floor dual-mode trolleybuses of a three-axle model with a width of no more than 2.5 meters excluding side mirrors and a height of no more than 3.8 meters. Total passenger capacity is at least 120 people, the number of seats is 38, including four seats for priority category passenger and the number of places for wheelchair is at least one.
The procurement also includes spare parts, maintenance equipment and related services.
The first delivery of the dual-mode trolleybuses is scheduled for no later than 36 weeks from the date of receipt of the advance payment, the execution of the contract is no later than 56 weeks.
According to the announcement, price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents.
The time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is until March 16, 2022.
The trolleybuses for Ivano-Frankivsk are procured within the framework of the Ukraine Urban Public Transport Project at the expense of the EIB and a grant from the European Union.
According to local media reports, the city planned to purchase at least eight dual-mode electric buses for these funds.
The Ukraine Urban Public Transport Project is a financial agreement between Ukraine and the EIB, ratified in April 2017. It provides for the implementation of 21 subprojects for the development of urban passenger transport in 11 cities.
In 2021, Ukrainian cities purchased 170 trolleybuses (including only three used ones), which is almost half as many as in 2020, when 337 vehicles were purchased (including five used ones), AllTransUA reported on Facebook.
According to a report, such a drop in sales may be due to the fact that in 2021 it was mainly the completion of deliveries of 2020 (as part of the trolleybus fleet renewal programs financed by international financial institutions), and new supplies to Kherson and Mykolaiv began only at the end of the year, as well as, in general, the completion of the first wave of EBRD and EIB loan programs.
Kharkiv was the leader in the purchase of trolleybuses, which, in addition to Bogdan T701 trolleybuses under loan programs of IFIs, received leased trolleybuses PTS-12 of the Brovary-based manufacturer Polytechnoservice (in Belarusian bodies MAZ-203) – a total of 59 trolleybuses. This is followed by Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zhytomyr, and Lutsk, which bought trolleybuses at the expense of IFIs.
In the structure of financing, purchases at the expense of IFI programs accounted for 68% of cars, and leasing was used only in Kharkiv and amounted to 22%. Budget purchases amounted to only 9% – this year, only Chernihiv (Etalon T12110) and Vinnytsia (PTS-12 with additional assembly at the facilities of the city public transport operator) bought trolleybuses for funds from local budgets.
In addition, for the first time, funding from the state budget was used – at its expense, three Dnipro T203 trolleybuses (in Belarusian bodies) were purchased for Severodonetsk.
In the structure of the supply of new trolleybuses, trolleybuses from Belarusian car sets – PTS-12 and Dnipro T203, assembled on the basis of MAZ and AKSM-321 (D) bodies, assembled at the BKM-Ukraine enterprise from car sets manufactured by Belkommunmash – continued to dominate (54%). Last year, the share of these vehicles was almost 70%.
Bogdan produced 71 trolleybuses (43%) – almost the same as in 2020, another 2% of all sales were for Etalon trolleybuses.
Three used Škoda 24Tr low-floor trolleybuses were delivered to Ternopil.
AllTransUA also analyzed the tram car market of last year, which, according to their data, did not become a turning point for this market (55 trams were delivered versus 39 a year earlier), having continued the trends of the last few years, when some cities bought used equipment, some built new cars using bodies and old bogies, and some bought a small number of modern wagons.
“This year, for the first time in several years, we have in statistics a significant number of new cars [14 units] – thanks to the supply of Polish Pesa cars, Ukrainian Electron and Tatra-Yug cars to Kyiv and Electron cars – to Lviv. Pesa cars and one Electron car were delivered to Kyiv as part of the 2020 contracts for budget funds, and Tatra-Yug cars to Kyiv and Electron cars to Lviv are supplied as part of IFI loan programs,” the report says.
As reported, 20 Tatra-Yug cars will be delivered to Kyiv under the contract (of which three were delivered this year), and 10 Electron cars will be delivered to Lviv (three were delivered).
AllTransUA notes that this year the statistics of deliveries of new trams can significantly improve due to the receipt of the remaining cars in Kyiv and Lviv, as well as supplies to Dnipro (at the expense of the regional budget) and Kryvy Rih (at the expense of IFIs), and the long-awaited promotion of car purchases for Odesa with IFI funding.
Bogdan Corporation, in a consortium with Czech company Tram For Envi, will supply six new autonomous trolleybuses for the transport company in Jihlava (the Czech Republic) following a tender in which the consortium was declared the winner almost a year ago, the corporation said on its Facebook page on Saturday with reference to the Czech media.
“For the first time, the Ukrainian manufacturer has managed to penetrate the Czech market with new trolleybuses. The signing of the contract can be seen from the data in the register of contracts. The contract was signed almost a year after the transport company Jihlava had declared the association the winner. The purchase will be financed through a European subsidy,” the Czech ezine Zdopravy.cz quoted Bogdan corporation as saying.
According to the contract, the Bogdan T70120 trolleybuses must be adapted to the requirements of the Czech market, in particular, the electrical equipment for them must be supplied by the Czech company Cegelec. The delivery time is estimated at 14 months.
The Czech newspaper notes that before that, for many years, only Škoda Electric had won contracts for the supply of trolleybuses, and the arrival of other manufacturers began to lead to significant price reductions.
As reported, in May 2020, a tender proposal of Bogdan Corporation in a consortium with Czech TRAM FOR ENVI s.r.o. was declared the best in a tender to supply six trolleybuses fitted with traction batteries for autonomous running for a transport company of Jihlava (the Czech Republic). The Czech-Ukrainian consortium offered trolleybuses for CZK 71.4 million (about EUR 2.64 million) or CZK 11.9 million for one trolleybus (EUR 440,300) with an estimated purchase amount of being CZK 82.74 million (EUR 3.06 million).
At the same time, Škoda Electric, which participated in the tender, offered a price of CZK 82.17 million (EUR 3.04 million) or CZK 13.695 million for a trolleybus.
Kharkiv received the first low-floor, one-section trolleybus out of 49 comfortable trolleybuses purchased under loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Thursday, October 22, this became possible due to the participation of Kharkiv in the Ukraine Urban Public Transport project, which is a framework loan from the EIB.
As part of the project, the city received a EUR 10 million loan for the renewal of the trolleybus fleet.
“Kharkiv became one of the 11 member cities and has already received today the first low-floor trolleybus out of 49. By the end of the year we hope to conclude an agreement with the EIB on the implementation of the second part of the project Urban Public Transport II, which will provide for the purchase of only environmentally friendly transport. I am sincerely grateful to our partners from the EIB, who support us both in the implementation and in the continuation of this important project for the cities,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy said.
Trolleybuses for Kharkiv were manufactured by the subsidiary Car Assembly Plant No.1 of Automobile Company Bogdan Motors.
According to the delivery schedule, 49 trolleybuses will arrive in Kharkiv by the end of 2021. The whole delivery will include 12 two-section and 37 single-section trolleybuses.
