photo: Archives/TZV Gredelj building
At the end of March, Tatravagonka leased halls at the Gredelj Railway Wagon Factory in Žitnjak, where the production of railway freight wagons was subsequently started. A few days ago, the first wagons left the gates of the premises, which will be delivered to the target client in Western Europe in the coming days. By the end of 2021, an additional 210 rail freight wagons should be produced on the premises.
The Slovak company Tatravagonka is serious about its expansion into Croatia. The proof is also that the company has deposited a guarantee of EUR 1 million to get the premises of the Zagreb company TZV Gredelj out of bankruptcy as soon as possible. This is linked to further investment. Tatravagonka has undertaken to invest EUR 45 million in the production of railway wagons in Gredelj. In addition, it wants to retain all more than 400 employees.
Moreover, the number of employees should even double after the bankruptcy. According to the bankruptcy manager, Tomislav Duričin, the end of the bankruptcy of the Zagreb company TZV Gredelj is a matter of the next few months. At the same time, he stated that of all the takeover bids received for Gredelj the best one was from Tatravagonka.
Ivan Petřiček, one of the co-owners and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Slovak company Tatravagonka, said that Gredelj has all the necessary infrastructure and potential for the production and overhaul of freight and passenger railway cars. Once the bankruptcy situation is over, Tatravagonka will start investing in the premises.
Tatravagonka would like to build on previous production in the TZV Gredelj complex. This means that all activities that were the basis of the wagon's operation in the past should be renewed and further developed. Tatravagonka wants to focus on freight and passenger cars powered by electric and diesel engines. Locomotive repairs are also planned.
TŽV Gredelj declared bankruptcy already in 2012. It was due to a decrease in orders from Chorvatské železnice (Croatian railways) and other clients. However, despite the bankruptcy, the workshop continued in its production. Tatravagonka submitted the only valid bid for the tender for an investment in TŽV Gredelj, amounting to EUR 45 million.
There was originally one more offer in the game, from the Croatian company Dok-ing from Zagreb. However, its offer was not only 10 million euros lower, but at the same time the company did not provide all the necessary tender documentation. Therefore, its offer was marked as invalid. Swiss Stadler was also interested, but the company itself withdrew on the grounds that it could not submit a legally binding offer.
Slovakian Tatravagonka is a leader in the production of railway wagons on the European market. It has subsidiaries in a number of other states. For example, Germany, Poland, Serbia, but also the Czech Republic or India. They employ more than 12 000 poeple in these factories. TŽV Gredelj workshop can provide Tatravagonka with all the resources to implement other plans and projects.