SOR to supply up to 122 new hybrid buses to Czech Railways

According to local press reports, ČD Bus, the bus subsidiary of Czech Railways, could purchase up to 122 new SOR ICN 12 buses with hybrid drivetrains over the next three years. The framework agreement announced on 8 October guarantees the order of 92 buses, intended primarily for rail replacement services, while the remaining 30 vehicles are included in the contract as an option. The agreement also covers technical support, spare-parts supply and the training of a ten-strong maintenance team.

The tender, which ČD Bus had previously withdrawn twice, was ultimately won by SOR Libchavy with a bid worth a total of CZK 692.14 million net (equivalent to more than HUF 10.44 billion), meaning that it is asking just over CZK 5.67 million (nearly HUF 85.3 million) per bus. Although the official documents do not name the other bidder, sources in the Czech Republic say that SOR beat a CZK 760 million bid from the local representative of Iveco Bus.

Of the mandatory base quantity of 92 vehicles – which SOR must deliver within 180 days of signing the contract – 72 buses will receive interiors designed for regular scheduled interurban services, while a further 20 vehicles will be built to meet the requirements of Prague Integrated Transport (PID). In addition to the prescribed livery elements, the latter will, among other features, be fitted with a ROPID-certified ticketing system, while bank card payments will also be possible on board. The option is planned to be called off in two batches of 15 vehicles each, with delivery deadlines of 30 October 2027 for the first batch and 30 March 2028 for the second. Roughly half of the new vehicles will replace life-expired buses, with the remainder intended to expand the fleet. Most of the fleet, 72 buses, will enter service in the Boskovice area of the South Moravian Region, while the remaining 30 will go to the town of Šumperk in the northern part of the region. The buses will have a white base colour (RAL 9010), supplemented by sky-blue (RAL 5015) decals in line with the customer's requirements. The PID-specific examples will be assigned to routes serving the Prague municipal district of Satalice.

SOR's bid includes the low-entry ICN type fitted with 19.5-inch rim-size ‘small-wheel’ axles, specifically the ICN 12,3 variant, which, despite its name, is actually 12,430 mm long. The offered version, with a 1-2-0 door configuration, passenger doors with clear openings of 800 mm at the front and 1,200 mm in the centre, and a manually operated wheelchair ramp, has 45 fixed seats and two tip-up seats, while standing capacity is 37. Among other items, the equipment of the buses now ordered will include an Eberspächer Sütrak AC 135 air-conditioning system with 30 kW cooling capacity, as well as a passenger information system supplied by BUSE comprising three LED exterior destination displays of different sizes and a 29-inch interior LCD monitor. The vehicles will additionally be prepared for the installation of an automatic passenger counting system and a bicycle rack.

The introduction of a hybrid drivetrain is a new development for the SOR ICN family, which until now has been offered exclusively with diesel engines and CNG propulsion. However, the Czech manufacturer is keeping quiet about the technical details for the time being, so all that is currently known is that the 286 hp (210 kW) FPT NEF 6.7 powerplant, capable of running on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) as well as diesel, will be supplemented by an electric motor (the relevant sections are also absent from the published tender documentation). The most likely possibility appears to be some form of mild-hybrid solution, such as the 48 V system that can be paired with the Driventic (Voith) DIWA NXT automatic transmission, although members of the SOR ICN range have so far typically been built with various ZF gearboxes.

The cover image is an illustration; source: SOR Libchavy