RegioPanter Production Starts At Škoda Pars

On 1 March 2023 Škoda Group announced that  production of new trains will return to the Šumperk works. After years of mainly servicing rolling stock, the final assembly of the  of the Class 640.2 three-car RegioPanters for ČD is now beginning at Škoda Pars. Six of these EMUs are to be built here this year and seven in 2024, all of them intended for operation in Olomoucký kraj (region).

Already painted bodyshells will be delivered to Šumperk from the Škoda Vagonka plant in Ostrava and bogies will follow from Škoda’s Plzeň works. After the final assembly, the new EMUs will also be commissioned in Šumperk. The manufacturing is possible here thanks to the fact that a modernisation project with an investment of 460 million CZK (around 20 million EUR) was launched here in 2020.

Aleš Měrka, Škoda Pars director, explains: "The investment aims to increase the space capacity for vehicle maintenance by 30 %. The new bogie workshop is currently being completed, including a new hall for wheelsets, and the assembly workplace and welding workplace are almost complete. A new gluing box for rolling stock is under construction and we are also finalising a new assembly line for RegioPanters. The modernisation project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024."