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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Tuesday, 19.03.2024, 08:09

Stadler passenger trains to be bought by Estonia will stay idle for an entire year

Juhan Tere, BC, Tallinn, 03.08.2012.Print version
The new Stadler passenger trains to be bought by Estonia will stay idle for an entire year, unless the minister of economic affairs Juhan Parts will manage to find a large amount of available money, an estimated 4-12 million euros in order for the trains to start riding the routes, writes LETA/Eesti Päevaleht.

On Thursday, the CEO of passenger train company Edelaraudtee Kalvi Pukka sent a letter to Parts, refusing the latter’s proposal to terminate the contract for passenger transport in favour of Elektriraudtee a year before than initially planned.

 

“We concluded the contract until the end of 2014 and would like to transport passengers until the very last day of the contract,” noted Pukka. “We have obligations to banks that are linked to our business plan and that will not make it possible for us to terminate the contract ahead of deadline,” he added.

 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications wishes to terminate the contract on Edelaraudtee’s routes ahead of deadline because all 20 Stadler diesel trains meant for Elektriraudtee to be operated with will arrive in Estonia by June 2014.

 

Edelaraudtee, which is owned by Marcel Vichmann, also applied for the opportunity to start operating the new trains, but the Government decided early this summer that State-owned company Elektriraudtee would start transporting passengers with the new trains from the year 2015.

 

Ain Tatter from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications stated that negotiations with Edelaraudtee are still ongoing, but did not consider it possible for the State to grant Edelaraudtee possession of the new trains until their contract expires.

 

According to information available to Eesti Päevaleht, Elektriraudtee is not at all considering the option that their enterprise would have to start paying capital lease of 850,000 euros per month for idle trains and the company is hoping that the State would force Edelaraudtee out of their contract.






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