Public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia has said that accusations of Kriukov Car Building Works (KCBW, Poltava region) of biased conditions of a tender to buy six diesel trains are groundless.

"The conditions of the tender were drawn up in line with the needs of the sector, and the term of production and supply of diesel trains are realistic for manufacturers of this rolling stock," Ukrzaliznytsia said in a press release.

Director for passenger transportation and servicing at Ukrzaliznytsia Ihor Romankiv said that the price which Ukrzaliznytsia plans to pay for diesel trains is based on the financial plan of Ukrzaliznytsia. The price is fair for this rolling stock, he said.

Ukrzaliznytsia said that the expected cost of one diesel train (UAH 177 million with VAT) exceeds the preliminary cost of procurement in 2015 by 1.61 times, and it was calculated using offers of Ukrainian manufacturers at the end of 2016.

"In February 2017 the Ukrainian manufacturer proposed to increase the expected cost by 1.2 times," the company said.

"Ukrzaliznytsia calls on KCBW not to spread provocative and distorted information, but develop its facilities, improve them and win at tenders thanks to the quality of their product and the balanced price policy," the company said.

Earlier KCBW said that the plant intends to appeal to Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine with a complaint against discriminative conditions of the Ukrzaliznytsia's tender to buy six passenger diesel train, which make impossible the participation of the national manufacturer in the tender.

In an open letter Chairman of the supervisory board of KCBW Volodymyr Prykhodko said that the conditions of the tender announced by Ukrzaliznytsia on March 7, 2017 repeat the concrete technical characteristics of Polish Pesa rail buses and bar the national manufacturer from participation in the tender.

Prykhodko also said that the term of supply of the trains – by the end of 2017, taking into account the announcement of the tender in March and signing the agreement no earlier than the second half of May – is unrealistic for the national manufacturer.

The tender to buy the trains was announced on March 7. Bids can be submitted until March 31. The expected cost of the trains is UAH 1.062 billion.