Hitachi and Pesa team up for Poland’s first high-speed tender
POLAND: Japanese manufacturer Hitachi Rail and Polish rolling stock producer Pesa Bydgoszcz have signed a cooperation agreement to bid jointly for PKP Intercity’s tender for 20 very high-speed trains — Poland’s first procurement at 320 km/h.
The agreement, signed 16 June, centres on a joint offer based on Hitachi Rail’s ETR1000 platform — the Frecciarossa 1000 — with initial production at Hitachi’s Italian facilities and a gradual shift of manufacturing to Pesa’s plant in Bydgoszcz.
PKP Intercity launched the competitive dialogue procedure at the end of 2025, with bids due in May 2027 and a contract decision targeted for August 2027. The tender includes an option for 35 additional trainsets and 30 years of maintenance.
Technology transfer as the industrial condition
Poland’s procurement does not simply ask for trains. The tender’s structure — competitive dialogue, local production requirements, technology transfer as a stated objective — reflects a logic Poland has used before: market access in exchange for industrial returns.
The Pesa partnership is Hitachi’s direct answer to that requirement. The ETR1000 platform carries ERA multi-country authorisation and has been in commercial service in Spain since November 2022, where Iryo runs the trains on the Madrid–Barcelona corridor. That operational reference is the strongest argument available in a tender requiring documented experience at 250 km/h or above.
The technology transfer scope covers aluminium bodywork production and, separately, the construction of double-deck trains — a separate product line Hitachi and Pesa intend to develop jointly. Pesa takes on responsibility for maintenance of all trains in Poland.
One known rival, one open question
The Siemens–Newag consortium, confirmed in January 2026, has since been dissolved after the two parties failed to agree on cooperation terms. PKP Intercity spoke with nine manufacturers ahead of the tender and made clear that Polish firms would participate through partnerships — a condition that has shaped the field from the outset.
PKP Intercity estimates unit cost at approximately EUR 29m. The first two trainsets must be delivered within 60 months of contract signing; the full order of 20 within 84 months. The trains are intended primarily for the “Y” line — the CPK high-speed infrastructure at 320 km/h — though that infrastructure remains years from completion.
Whether Hitachi and Pesa passed PKP Intercity’s prequalification has not been confirmed. The application deadline was 29 April.