Representatives of “Serbian Railways” and Russian company “Transmashholding”, will meet next week in Belgrade, in order to agree, within next ten days, on all remaining details of the Contract on purchase of new DMUs from the Russian state loan for modernization of Serbian railways. Also, expert teams of the two companies will define at the same time all elements necessary for the service and maintenance of the new Russian DMUs in Serbia, which is extremely important for their successful operation on our lines.

This is concluded today during the meeting which was held in Belgrade by Dragoljub Simonović, Serbian Railways Director General, with the management of the Russian company “Transmashholding”, of which “Metrowagonmash”, the manufacturer of the new DMUs, is a comprising part.

-We have to finalize negotiations on purchase of the new Russian DMUs as soon as possible, in order to sign the contract quickly and to start with work realization. During negotiations we have defined many details and our common interest is that committees start working next week in Belgrade and to complete their work in ten days. Serbian Railways management will try their best to complete the negotiations successfully and to sign the contract – said Dragoljub Simonović, Serbian Railways Director General during discussions with the representatives of the Russian company.

For the purchase of the new DMUs, $100 million will be allocated from the Russian state loan for the modernization of Serbian railways in the total amount of $800 million. During negotiations on the purchase of the new DMUs with Russian partners, Serbian Railways management managed to arrange approx. 27 sets for the amount of $100 million, although originally, during negotiations, only 19 sets were offered. During today’s meeting, it was agreed that Russian experts explore suggested locations and services where maintenance and overhaul of new DMUs are planned.

The managements of the two companies discussed also on realization of the Contract on procurement of 12 DMUs of Russian manufacturer “Metrowagonmash”, which was purchased by the Serbian Railways from the European Company for the Financing of Railroad Rolling Stock EUROFIMA loan in the amount of CHF 43 million.