SLOVAKIA: Infrastructure manager Železnice Slovenskej republiky (ŽSR) has again moved the bid deadline for four ETCS Level 2 contracts on the Žilina–Košice main line, now to 15 January 2027. Bids on the package, estimated at EUR 117.4m, were first due in June.
ŽSR launched the four tenders in May. Each covers design and construction on one section, valued at EUR 29.3–29.4m: Varín–Vrútky freight station, Vrútky–Ľubochňa, Ľubochňa–Liptovská Teplá and Liptovská Teplá–Paludza.
Bids were originally due on 10 June, news agency SITA reported in May, citing notices in the bulletin of the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO). The page for the Varín–Vrútky procedure on the Josephine procurement platform still lists it as ongoing.
Four changes since June
ŽSR has published corrections to the Varín–Vrútky notice in the EU’s Official Journal on 11 June, 10 August and 7 October, and uploaded the latest change on 9 November, the platform shows. The procedure’s summary page does not give the reasons.
The tenders call for ETCS Level 2 to Baseline 3 or a later version, with the winners also handling design, engineering, land purchase and construction. Price counts for 85% of the evaluation and construction time for 15%, according to SITA.
The work is to be funded from the Programme Slovakia and the EU’s Cohesion Fund, with the state budget and ŽSR’s own money, the agency reported. The project is part of a Slovak action plan to improve rail safety.
A second ETCS tender
The four sections run through the Váh valley between Žilina and Liptovský Mikuláš, on the line that carries Slovakia’s long-distance trains to Košice.
State operator Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK) opened a separate tender on 9 November to fit ETCS Level 2 to 41 diesel multiple units of classes 861.0 and 861.1, estimated at EUR 36.3m. Bids are due on 17 December.