The foundation stone for Pendolino has been laid

The ceremony marks the official start of the construction of the depot in Kozia Górka Street, in the Grochów District of Warsaw, although advanced civil work has been under way since November 2012.
The foundation act was signed by Janusz Malinowski, President of PKP Intercity S.A., Pawe Hordyski Board Member, Financial Director of PKP Intercity S.A., Lesaw Kuzaj, Alstom Poland President, and Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Alstom Transport President.
Laying the foundation stone for the High Speed Trains Depot is a milestone for the Polish railways in their effort to offer state-of-the-art service with the highest quality standards, said Janusz Malinowski, PKP Intercity S.A. President.
Alstom is very proud to participate in modernization of the Polish railway with the introduction of high speed rolling stock in Poland. This kind integrated project  supply of rolling stock, design, construction of depot and 17 years of maintenance - bring to Poland the best of Alstom Transport international expertise. What is also important, the project creates some 140 new job within Alstom Transport Poland, jobs that will be added to the current 950 in the Chorzow plant (today Alstom Group employs overall nearly 3200 people in Poland) said Lesaw Kuzaj, President of Alstom in Poland.
Building the maintenance depot is part of the contract signed in May 2011 between PKP Intercity and Alstom. Under this agreement, Alstom supplies 20 high speed trains; provides full maintenance, warranty repairs, inspections, cleaning and washing, and builds the maintenance facility. The depot will be the first in Poland fully dedicated to high speed trains and its specific design will help to shorten maintenance and repairs time to minimum.
Once it will be commissioned for operational activity, the depot will provide maintenance services on a 24/7 basis, 365 days per year. Both the engineering staff and maintenance personnel will be trained at Alstoms plant in Savigliano (Italy). The maintenance team will use Alstoms TrainTracer diagnostic technology to perform their task more efficiently. TrainTracer will inform the depot about the status of the train in real time, allowing anomalies to be quickly identified and fixed. The system also allows for defining position of the train on an on-going basis thanks to the use of GPS system. Another tool to be used will be Alstoms RAILSYS platform, a software which enables to manage the repair and maintenance process, by monitoring wear of components and scheduling replacements and repairs.
The 12,000 sqm depot is being built on a 2.5-hectares area. It will be divided into the storage and maintenance part and the office part. The workshop hall will be equipped with three maintenance tracks and two repair tracks, able to handle 7-car trains. It will also accommodate spare parts warehouse and an automatic wash area. The project also includes the construction of nearly 2 km of railway tracks with overhead catenary.
The backup facilities design is provided by Systra S.A. The construction is dealt with by Karmar, part of the French group Bouygues. The contract is due to end in the end of 2013.

Press contact:

Dorota Januszkiewicz,
Communications Director Alstom in Poland
+48 22 239 22 22, dorota.januszkiewicz@alstom.com