Market dialogue opens for HSL's next commuter rail tender

Helsinki Region Transport authority HSL is preparing the next tendering of commuter rail services in close coordination with the tendering of the national PSO train services by Traficom. Both competent authorities have published a Prior Information Notice on TED. The first round of market dialogue will be organized jointly and scheduled by Traficom. The market dialogue aims to identify critical market conditions, contract terms and procurement mechanisms that need to be addressed in our preparations.

This is what the HSL train operations and maintenance contract will look like:

  • At least 9 million annual train-km of mostly high-frequency urban services
  • Fleet of 81 Stadler FLIRT EMUs'
  • Rolling stock and facilities will be provided for the operator at no CAPEX
  • Gross cost contract
  • HSL will provide ticketing, information and most customer interfacing services
  • Performance incentives will be the main driver of quality and reliability of operations
  • Contract period of 10 years, starting in summer 2031
  • Reforms during the contract period: deployment of ETCS, likely network extensions and possible deployment of new depot facilities and rolling stock.

At HSL, our objective is to facilitate real market opening on Finnish passenger railways and effective competition for the tendered contracts. Our preference would be the use of lot restriction to prevent one bidder from winning all contracts. This may be necessary to guarantee our goal of having at least two passenger rail operators in Finland to ensure a functioning operator market. HSL has the existing contract and procurement model used for the first tendering 2018-2020 as a baseline, but we are willing to adjust and develop our model to better support fair competition, market entry and sustainable operations. We at HSL are also preparing our strategy for procurement of metro, light rail and legacy tram operations during the 2030’s.

We appreciate your expertise and perspective as we move forward.

  • We warmly welcome your participation in the market dialogue. Please contact [email protected] to arrange a meeting.
  • For further questions, recommendations, or discussions about the HSL procurements, please contact [email protected].
  • We will continue to provide updates as the preparation progresses. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive further updates or prefer to have the messages directed to other contact persons in your organization.