The tender for 96 HST sets was postponed once again.

Turkey’s one of the most biggest tenders in railways including the procurement, production in Turkey and technology transfer of HST sets was postponed for the second time.

The postponement was due to requests of participants, as declared. The journalist Tulay Taskin from Dunya, wrote that it may be because of unwillingness of manufacturers for technology transfer.

Actually, technology transfer in HST was done before. The production of HST sets in Korea had started by technology transfer of Alstom. Hyundai Rotem’s HST technology is based on this transfer. Most probably, Alstom and Hyundai Rotem will be competitiors in this tender.

Which companies will participate in 96-HST-sets tender?

Furthermore, almost all the manufacturers follow the tender very closely from the beginning. None of them refused to take part due to “technology transfer”.

Why, then, the tender could not been done yet? Why is it postponed first to April, and then to an unknown date?

First thing to consider is that tender is very complicated. Different than other HST tenders of Turkey, the participants have to consider the production capacity and capability of Tulomsas, the cost of investment in Turkey etc. Even though all manufacturers have companies or representatives in Turkey, it will take time gathering all this information, presenting to head offices and preparing offers. Hence, participants request additional time for the deadline in January.

However, this time the tender was postponed to an uncertain time. This time reason may be different. The tender has the target to bring Tulomsas and Turkey to a level that a HST set can be produced locally in Turkey. On the other hand, it’s very important for participants to know if the cooperation will continue after this order of 96 HST sets and if they will get a share from the further supply of HST sets in Turkey.

During tender process, a question of a participant showed another thing they considered. The question was if Tulomsas will be privazited and if the winner will have priority in privatization. This is important, because a possible privatization of Tulomsas will mean the transfer of the technology to another competitor.

How high-speed train technology be transferred?

Another factor may be the warming up of the region politically due to Syria problem. This critical tender which needs a huge investment and will reshape the railway industry of Turkey in forthcoming years may be looking for a better timing.

Cover Photo: Steve Hobson ©