RegioPanter BEMUs to Latvia
posted on 11th Dec 2025 11:33
On 11 December 2025, Autotransporta direkcija and Škoda Group signed a contract for the supply of nine BEMUs worth 89,409,387 EUR. Financing is provided from the Latvian state budget and the EU Cohesion Fund. The contract includes the possibility of purchasing seven more trains if the necessary financing is found. If the option is confirmed, the value of the contract, including spare parts and personnel training, will increase to almost 160 million EUR.
The ATD tender took place over three years and involved CAF, Stadler Polska and the ŠKODA TRANSPORTATION - ŠKODA VAGONKA consortium. The supply for ATD follows on from 32 Class 16EV EMUs for ViVi (Pasažieru vilciens). For Škoda, this is the second order for BEMU abroad after the order from ZSSK, and the first version of the RegioPanter BEMU for the 1,520 mm track gauge.
The Škoda BEMUs are planned to be deployed from the first half of 2029. They will be two-car units, capable of operating on 3 kV DC and 25 kV 50 Hz. Their maximum speed in catenary mode will be 160 km/h and in battery mode 120 km/h. They will have an axle arrangement Bo‘2 + 2‘Bo‘, a length over the couplings of 56,540 mm, a width of the bodyshells of 3,430 mm and a height of 4,560 mm above the TOR. The minimum radius of the curve negotiated will be 150 m.
The low-floor part of the vehicle will be 600 mm above the TOR. Each train will offer 188 seats, of which 24 in the first class in a 2 + 2 configuration. In the second class, on the other hand, the seats are in a 3 + 2 configuration. Jānis Lapiņš, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ATD, adds: “Conditions for passengers with bicycles will also be improved. While old diesel trains usually have a high floor and only three places for bicycles, the new battery trains will have space for eight bicycles in the low-floor part, four of which in a vertical and four in a horizontal position.”
The BEMUs will run mainly in the direction of Daugavpils and Cēsis, where the necessary charging infrastructure will be built for them. Currently, transport on non-electrified lines is provided by 23 diesel trains manufactured in 1980 - 92. Nine BEMUs will therefore replace part of the existing diesel trains, and thanks to the higher starting acceleration and the use of the speed of 120 km/h on the relevant non-electrified sections, it will be possible to shorten the travel time up to 15 - 25 minutes. Seven optional BEMUs would allow replacing most of the diesel trains and also serving additional destinations, such as Rēzekne and Valmiera.
The tender was organized by the Autotransporta direkcija (ATD, Road Transport Directorate), a state organization established in October 1993, then as the State Road Transport Inspectorate (Autotransporta valsts inspekcija). ATD is the implementer of a unified state policy in the field of passenger and freight transport. ATD's activities mainly concern public transport planning (in passenger transport this concerns buses and trains), issuing licenses for commercial transport of goods and passengers and issuing permits for international transport.
