The new trains are intended to ease pressure on the network which has seen ridership triple to well over 126 million passengers between 2000 and 2008, and will more than double the size of the existing fleet. This is mainly made up of Russian units that were given to Warsaw as a gift in 1990 five years before the metro opened, with additional carriages delivered by Alstom in 2005 and Russian suppliers in 2007.
Inspiro, which was officially unveiled by Siemens at Innotrans in September, can operate at up to 90km/h and utilises light-weight materials to achieve a noticeable decrease in energy consumption. The first 10 units will be constructed at Siemens' plant in Vienna with the remaining trains to be assembled by Newag at Nowy Sacz, Poland. This is the first deal in which Inspiro has been sold as complete units and is also Siemens largest ever order in Poland.
"Inspiro is the result of our efforts to come up with an innovative and eco-friendly solution for cities increasing mass transit," says Mr Hans-Jörg Grundmann, CEO of Siemens Mobility.
