Škoda adds 16 Sofia metro trainsets in €149m contract

Škoda Group will deliver 16 additional metro trainsets to Sofia metro operator Metropoliten EAD under an agreement worth almost €149m, with all 16 due within the next two years. The manufacturer described the expansion as two blocks of eight.

Metropoliten EAD exercised its option for the second block, extending a contract first signed in December 2025. The announcement gives no fixed delivery date for either block and no calendar year for completing the two-year programme.

Eight are already in service. Once all 16 additional sets reach passenger service, Škoda-supplied trainsets in Sofia would total 24, three times the eight now carrying passengers.

What will each trainset carry?

Each set will comprise four cars, measure almost 80 metres and accommodate up to 762 passengers. At the stated limit, 16 trainsets represent potential capacity for 12,192 passengers, although that number does not describe a load, a rush-hour requirement or trains running simultaneously.

The additions would double the number of Škoda-supplied trainsets from eight to 24, a 200% increase. The announcement does not state when each set will enter service, how many will run at once or how service frequency would change.

Olesea Lachi, Vice President South & East Europe at Škoda Group, said: “The contract covers modern four-car trainsets almost 80 metres in length with a total capacity of up to 762 passengers.”

The remaining technical commitments are specific:

• Four-car formation, almost 80 metres long.
• Capacity of up to 762 passengers per trainset.
• Maximum speed of 90 km/h.
• Capability to operate both under and above ground.
• Dedicated spaces for reduced-mobility passengers, prams and bicycles.
• Regenerative braking and automatic speed control.

How will the sets change operations?

Under- and above-ground capability allows the same train type to serve both parts of the Sofia Metro operation. Dedicated areas for reduced-mobility passengers, prams and bicycles change onboard space allocation, although the announcement gives no space count or comparison with the eight sets in service.

Regenerative braking is designed to feed electrical energy back into the power supply network during braking, potentially lowering net energy demand during those periods. The announcement gives no figure for recovered energy, annual electricity savings, maintenance effects or operating costs.

Automatic speed control forms part of the protection system. The 90 km/h figure is a maximum design speed, not a reported operating speed, and the announcement provides no braking distances, reliability data or safety-test results.

Which results are proven, and which are planned?

The eight previously supplied Škoda trainsets are in operation and carrying passengers, the only completed delivery result reported. No figures are given for their availability, passenger volumes, energy use or life-cycle cost, so their performance cannot be compared with the 16-set forecast.

The larger claims remain contractual and technical: 16 trainsets, almost €149m, delivery within two years and a potential 12,192-passenger capacity. Metropoliten EAD has committed to the option, but the announcement contains no fleet plan, timetable or capacity allocation against which those claims can yet be tested.

The stated contract value works out to an implied average of about €9.3m per trainset across all 16 sets. That is arithmetic, not a disclosed unit price, because the announcement does not itemise financing, taxes, spares, maintenance or other package inclusions. No regulator, approval authority or funding source is named.

If deliveries were spread evenly across the two years, the programme would average eight trainsets annually. The announcement does not commit to that pace within either eight-unit block, however, and a flat average would conceal the timing of capacity release.

What should readers watch next?

Škoda’s next delivery within the stated two-year window and Metropoliten EAD’s subsequent fleet and passenger-service data will determine whether the additional 16 trainsets become usable network capacity. For now, the original eight units are operating; the additional 16 are promised, with no calendar completion date, service plan or quantified cost saving supplied.