Poland: The company’s bid in a competition run by regional operator Koleje Dolnośląskie has been rejected.
The three other EU bidders – local manufacturer Pesa, Germany’s Siemens Mobility and the Czech Republic’s Škoda Group – have advanced to the next stage of the procurement. The operator attributed the Turkish manufacturer’s exclusion to new EU public procurement rules that allow bidders from third countries without reciprocal trade agreements with the bloc to be excluded or restricted.
The competition, launched at the start of the year, covers the supply of up to four trains drawing power from the overhead line and from hydrogen fuel cells or batteries. In due course Koleje Dolnośląskie intends to order up to 16 such trainsets, provided the prototypes successfully complete a year of service trials on the Polish network.
Similar exclusions from European tenders have previously been applied to China’s CRRC. In 2024, under pressure from a European Commission investigation into state subsidies, the company withdrew its bid to supply trains to Bulgaria, ceding the order to Spain’s Talgo. This spring CRRC was barred from a competition to supply 12 trams to Lisbon, Portugal. The Commission’s investigation found that the manufacturer had received state subsidies allowing it to offer the lowest price.
Access to the EU market has gradually tightened since 2023, largely in response to CRRC’s vigorous push into the bloc. In February this year, at the EU competitiveness summit, the Austrian railway industry association VBI called for a mandatory minimum 50% EU added-value requirement when public funds are spent.
It is worth noting that on the EU market Bozankaya is present solely in the tram segment. The company has supplied vehicles to the Romanian cities of Timișoara and Iași and is currently delivering a contract for Naples, Italy.
