Quito approves 8-month provisional maintenance contract for metro trains

Quito metropolitan council approved the awarding of an eight-month provisional maintenance contract for the 18 trains of line No. 1 of the Ecuadoran capital’s metro.

Under the US$1.8mn contract, the maintenance will be carried out by Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), the trains’ manufacturer, Quito metro manager Juan Carlos Parra told a council session.

The Quito metro company began the process of contracting maintenance of the trains in April, taking as a basis an offer the Spanish firm made in 2014.

However, CAF reported that it would not present an offer due to changes in the technical and economic conditions and scope of the services since the initial proposal.

In May, the council authorized mediation with the company to reach an agreement. The two parties recognized the changes in the conditions and resolved to start a new contracting process.

Finalizing the contract award could last around three months, due to the procedures required.

While CAF carries out the maintenance, Metro de Quito will prepare a tender for a five-year maintenance contract and the Spanish company is expected to participate in the process.

Sources at the Quito metro company told BNamericas that the process would be called this year and the contract should be ready before the end of the eight months of maintenance.

The process to award the eight-month contract followed claims by several councilors and representatives from various sectors that the Quito metro did not have contracts for maintenance and this was being carried out by technicians from Metro de Quito who received training of just four days.

According to information from the metro company, the first full maintenance of the 18 trains must be carried out when they have traveled 120,000km.

Parra said the trains, on average, have a little more than 108,000km on the clock but there are four units that have already started the maintenance process.

Experts say it is necessary to carry out maintenance on all the systems of the metro, that is, not only the trains but the ventilation shafts, the overhead contact line, the tunnel, the lighting system, the central control post and the signaling system, among others, which could require around US$30mn a year.

The Quito metro, which began commercial operations last December, required investment of US$2bn, financed by the IDB, the World Bank and Latin American development bank CAF.

The subway operator is a consortium made up of French company Transdev and Colombia’s Metro de Medellín.