The trains will be assembled at Stadler Poland's Siedlce plant and the first six trains will be delivered to LKA by the end of April 2014. The next 10 sets will arrive in Lodz in October 2014 and the remaining four will be handed over in February 2015.

The deal, which has been co-financed by the European Union, includes a 15-year maintenance agreement worth Zlotys 128.1m.

The 45.7m-long trains will weigh around 90 tonnes and will accommodate up to 254 passengers, 120 of them seated. The vehicles will feature aluminium alloy bodyshells and will be equipped with ETCS Level 2.

Stadler says this is the first rolling stock tender in Poland to weigh long-term operating costs against the initial purchase price of the trains.

The trains will be used on Zgierz – Ozorkow services, and further sets will be required for future phases of the LKA project, which involves modernising regional services on four routes radiating from Lodz.