Tuesday Brief: CP launches EUR 584m tender for 12 high-speed trains
Plus: Portugal’s first high-speed fleet: who wins it? / Lithuania starts construction of NATO rail hub at Palemonas
CP launches EUR 584m tender for 12 high-speed trains
PORTUGAL: Portugal’s national rail operator Comboios de Portugal (CP) has launched a EUR 584m tender for 12 high-speed trainsets as the country prepares to open the upgraded Lisbon–Porto corridor in 2032.
The procurement restarts a process stalled for a year by political deadlock, with first trains required in service before the infrastructure opens.
The Iberian-gauge requirement is paired with provision for conversion to standard European gauge — keeping the field open to manufacturers without prior peninsular experience.
An open question over network scope remains unresolved, leaving final fleet size and specification dependent on a decision CP has yet to take.
Portugal’s first high-speed fleet: who wins it?
CP has opened a EUR 584m tender for 12 high-speed trainsets — Portugal’s first dedicated high-speed fleet — and the field breaks down into two competing arguments: Alstom has the local case, Siemens has the risk case.
By Dan Jensen
The Iberian gauge requirement — 1,668 mm — does most of the filtering. No manufacturer currently has a certified high-speed product in that gauge.
Bid deadline is 2 July. Contract award is targeted for Q1 2027.
Lithuania starts construction of NATO rail hub at Palemonas
MILITARY MOBILITY: Lithuania is building a EUR 37m dual-gauge terminal near Kaunas that will transfer NATO military cargo between European standard gauge and the broad-gauge network running north to Latvia, Estonia and the port of Klaipėda.
The terminal is purpose-built to support the German brigade permanently stationed in Lithuania — the first standing German force based abroad since the Second World War. Construction is due to complete within 16 months.
EUR 13.3m comes from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility; the remainder is funded by the Lithuanian state budget.
Six engineering firms join forces on Finnish ERTMS rollout
Finland’s transport agency Väylävirasto has signed a EUR 70 million joint contract with six engineering firms to plan and commission ERTMS on 970 kilometres of track in southern Finland, sharing engineering risk across nine years rather than concentrating it with a single lead consultant.
The contract covers three of eleven sections in Finland’s Digirail programme, which will convert roughly 6,000 km of network to ERTMS between 2025 and 2040. Equipment suppliers will be tendered separately — the signalling vendor competition remains open.
The six firms are Ramboll CM, Welado, Rejlers, Sweco, WSP and Ramboll Finland. Delivery target: ERTMS commissioned on all three sections by summer 2034.
Vossloh wins contract on first American high-speed line
Vossloh has secured a contract worth more than EUR 40m to supply 335,000 concrete ties and rail fastening systems for California’s Central Valley section — the first purpose-built high-speed rail line in the United States.
The 191.5 km initial segment runs between Bakersfield and Merced. Production takes place at Vossloh’s plant in Pueblo, Colorado, with deliveries starting in Q3 2026.
The ties are engineered for 350 km/h operation. The wider California line is planned to eventually run approximately 790 km from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Michail Stahlhut to lead Rail Innovators Group from June
Rail Innovators Group (RIG), the Rotterdam-based integrated rail freight operator, has appointed Michail Stahlhut as CEO with effect from 1 June, bringing one of European freight rail’s most prominent executives to a company that generated more than EUR 150 million in revenue last year.
Stahlhut joins after serving as CEO of Hupac, which he left in late 2025, and previously held the same role at SBB Cargo International. Founder Julian Remie moves to Executive Chairman.
RIG operates across 23 European countries through four units covering logistics, traction, wagon leasing and maintenance.
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