Bulgaria: If the Spanish manufacturer wins a current tender, it will design the low-floor Intercity BG train on the basis of the Talgo 230.
The new vehicle will be able to reach 200 km/h, have 390 seats, and be adapted to 760 mm platforms. With a locomotive at one end, the Intercity BG will have a non-motor coach with a control cab to enable push-pull operation.
Bulgaria announced the tender for 20 push-pull trains last year and relaunched it early this year. Negotiations are now underway with two participants, Talgo and CRRC, to improve their proposals. However, the Chinese manufacturer could be suspended if there are “sufficient indications” that it received a foreign subsidy that allowed it to submit a bid twice as low, €310 mln against Talgo’s €622 mln.
