MOSCOW, May 6. The train fleet of the Latvian railway passenger carrier Pasazieru vilciens is heavily worn out with carriages “older” than 50 years, and Without supplies of spare parts from Russia, the company will be forced to put trains out of service and begin to cannibalize the trains, said Alexander Polikarpov, managing partner and co-founder of Rollingstock Agency (specializing in analytics and consulting in the field of railway engineering).
Pasazieru vilciens asked the Latvian parliament not to prohibit the purchase of spare parts from Russia and Belarus for old-style trains, since they cannot be replaced with European ones, LETA reported earlier on Monday. This, the publication explained, is necessary for the company to be able to purchase parts for old electric and diesel trains designed and built during the Soviet era. 
< br />«The Latvian carrier's train fleet is quite worn out, more than half of the fleet is over 50 years old, while most of the trains were modernized at Russian or Latvian factories. Without the supply of spare parts, the carrier will be forced to put the trains out of service and will most likely begin «cannibalization» compositions,» says Polikarpov.
According to his calculations, more than 70% of the Pasazieru vilciens fleet consists of various modifications of electric and diesel trains ER2 and DR1, which were assembled at the Riga Carriage Works in Soviet times. The final assembly within the framework of cooperation of production processes was carried out in Latvia, but the components were produced in various cities of the USSR.
“Since the 1990s, Russia has established the production of electric trains and base components for them, while Latvian specialized production has been declining. Therefore, Russian suppliers for a number of components for Soviet equipment and rolling stock based on it are today without alternative,” notes expert. 
The carriage will move
Pasazieru vilciens, against the backdrop of the aging fleet, ordered 32 trains from the Czech Skoda Group back in 2019. Their delivery date has been pushed back several times, but they should all be delivered by the summer of 2024.
«However, the first experience of operating Skoda trains showed a significant number of defects, that is, the carrier must maintain a replacement fleet of old trains. A significant amount of passenger work continues to be carried out on old trains. In the medium term, the Latvian carrier will continue to operate old trains en masse, and the issue of spare parts supply directly affects its performance,» says Polikarpov.
Renewing the fleet with new trains, in turn, is linked to the availability of funding from the EU, which Latvia almost lost due to the disruption of Skoda Group supplies, the expert continues, noting that this may take 5-10 years.
«For Russian factories, the volumes of supplies to Latvia are not large, and they will technically be able to provide them, despite the loading of production capacity for the domestic market. However, the decision to supply components to the EU countries is in the political plane, and not in the production «, the expert summarizes.
< br />