DENMARK: A €180m contract for the operation and maintenance of the København metro has been awarded to incumbent Ansaldo STS by metro owner Ørestadsselskabet. The Italian firm submitted the lowest bid to beat Arriva, Centour, Keolis, Serco-NedRailways and DB's S-Bahn Hamburg to the contract, which runs for five years with an optional three year extension.
The Metro Service consortium of Ansaldo STS and Serco operated the network from the opening in October 2002 until Ansaldo STS bought out Serco's stake and formed a 49%-owned joint venture with Milano urban transport operator Azienda Trasporti Milanesi at the start of 2008. A total of 50 million passengers were carried last year.
Construction of the fourth phase of the metro, the 15·5 km 17-station Cityringen M3/M4 project is due to start later this year. In October 2009 four consortia were invited to submit bids for the rolling stock and railway equipment:
- Ansaldo STS;
- Bombardier Transportation;
- CAF, Thales, Balfour Beatty and Keolis Nordic AB;
- Siemens and Hyundai Rotem.
A decision is expected in the summer. Two civil works packages have been tendered separately.
