Euskotren order five new trains to be manufactured for Line 5 of the Bilbao subway
• The contract, worth €53.6 million, for these units has been awarded to CAF
• The supply of ERTMS equipment has also been contracted with CAF SIGNALLING to the tune of €4.6 million
Euskotren, the publicly-run company answering to the Basque Government's Ministry of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport, has awarded a contract to CAF, the company from Beasain, to supply five new electric multiple units (EMUs), worth €53.6 million (€53,637,578 not including VAT); the units will be delivered in 2026 and 2027. The units, which will make up the new Series-980, will be run on Line 5 of the Bilbao subway to be managed by Euskotren.
The S-980 will initially consist of five EMUs with four cars, in Motor-Motor-Trailer-Motor (MNRM) composition, with a nominal capacity to transport 400 people. Furthermore, the units will include an accessible toilet for people with reduced mobility.
These units will come with cutting-edge innovations of the rail sector in terms of technology, reliability, sustainability, safety and ergonomics. The doors will also have built-in ramps for people with reduced mobility. There will be acoustic warnings for the blind and light signals for the hearing impaired. The new units will be sustainable and will comply with all environmental standards, and those regarding the life cycles of each and every one of the materials.
The process to modernise the rolling stock of the Euskotren subway and railways services began in 2011 with the Series-900 EMUs coming into service; it was subsequently completed with the introduction of the Series-950 EMUs. In 2023, four other trains (Series 940 EMUs) have been received and their characteristics are very similar to the S-950; the safety and technology features have been upgraded and there is a sense of uniformity of the interior and exterior design of the whole fleet.
Thanks to the new S-980 trains, Euskotren will have greater capacity to meet the growing demand, both on its special services for festivities, sports or cultural events and for its regular rail service; the needs will increase with the coming into service of the new section of Line 5 of the Bilbao subway, which will be built under the supervision of Euskal Trenbide Sarea-Basque Railway Network (ETS).
Supply of ERTMS equipment for the S-950
In turn, Level 1 ERTMS equipment for the 28 units that make up the Series 950 has been ordered from CAF SIGNALLING S.L.U in a contract worth over €4 million (€4,006,208, excluding VAT).
Euskotren will ensure those units have the best technological and safety features, which already came with the four state-of-the-art trains received by the operator this year (Series 940), as part of process to modernise the infrastructures of the Euskal Trenbide Sarea-Basque Railway Network (ETS) signalling systems.