MOSCOW, May 6. Latvian railway carrier Pasažieru Vilciens (PV, «Passenger Trains») asked the country's Seimas to eliminate the ban on the purchase of components for trains in Russia and Belarus, reports TVNET.
At the moment, a commission of the Latvian Seimas is considering amendments to the procurement law, suggesting that the customer sets a requirement for participants in tenders should exclude the purchase of goods of Russian and Belarusian origin.
The new norm, according to PV, can significantly affect the company’s work. The carrier's fleet includes Soviet-made trains; most of the spare parts for them were produced at Russian and Belarusian enterprises. At the same time, replacing them with European suppliers is problematic, and most of them are impossible.
«Unless a reasonable exception is provided, PV will be able to operate the rolling stock that it owns and manages only until it has at its disposal the balance of spare parts, which in some cases will be used this spring,” TVNET quotes an excerpt from the company’s letter.
As a result, the carrier will be forced to reduce the number of trains on the lines.