POLISH company PESA has been awarded a contract worth €87·5m to supply 70 Partner diesel railbuses to Ukrainian Railways by the end of 2008.

As well as 64 vehicles for passenger services, the order includes six inspection cars. Weighing around 50 tonnes each, the 160 km/h railbuses are based on a design which has been supplied to a number of local authorities in Poland in an attempt to improve the viability of branch line services (RG 6.03 p394).

The interior layouts of the partially low-floor passenger cars have not yet been finalised, but the air-conditioned inspection cars will be equipped with a conference room with audio-visual equipment, an office, and a two-berth crew compartment with a kitchen, toilet and shower. There will be 12 seats behind each driving position arranged to give a view forward along the track.

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