Request For Information (RFI) - Technical Consultancy Services Related to Rolling Stock

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RailStock Finland Oy (hereinafter “Railstock”) is preparing a tendering procedure for technical consultancy services related to the rolling stock it manages. Railstock is gathering information on market operators and the services they offer and, for this purpose, is now publishing this request for information. This request for information is not a contract notice or an invitation to tender. The publication of this request for information does not yet initiate the actual tendering procedure. The contract notice and the invitation to tender will be published separately at a later stage. The request for information does not yet oblige the contracting entity to carry out the procurement. Responding to the request for information is not a precondition for participating in any later tendering procedure, and no compensation will be paid for responding to the request for information. Railstock will, at its discretion, make use of the responses received to this request for information in the preparation of the procurement documents. For the sake of clarity, Railstock states that responding to this request for information does not constitute such participation in the preparation of the procurement as would prevent participation in a subsequent tendering procedure (see Section 70 of the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sectors, the “Act on Procurement in Special Sectors”). CONTRACTING ENTITY Railstock Finland Oy is a company wholly owned by the State of Finland, which manages, develops and leases passenger rolling stock for publicly funded passenger rail services in Finland. The objective of the company is to ensure that the rolling stock used in contracted services is safe, modern, low‑emission and available to all operators on equal and transparent terms, so that competition in rail transport and sustainable modes of transport can develop. Railstock is responsible for the preparation and implementation of new rolling stock procurements, for lifecycle management of the rolling stock and for long‑term investment planning. The company began operating as an independent company under the ownership steering of the Prime Minister’s Office in November 2025, and practical operational activities have commenced during 2026 as rolling stock used in contracted services, transferred from VR and other parties, is brought into the company’s ownership. BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE PROCUREMENT The subject matter of the procurement is a comprehensive package of expert and consultancy services related to rolling stock, supporting the rolling stock owner in, inter alia, technical assessments, procurement preparation, lifecycle management, planning of maintenance and heavy overhauls, safety and approval matters, as well as other expert tasks connected with the ownership and development of rolling stock. The service package may also include, for example, testing and validation support, audits, expert services for exceptional situations, and expert services related to ESG, IT and cyber security. The contracting entity has preliminarily planned to divide the procurement into the following lots in order to take into account, in an appropriate manner, the specialised expertise required for the different task areas and the existing structure of the market, and to enable the assignment of tasks to the most suitable service providers. 1. Owner’s Engineer Support 2. Procurement Support (Rolling Stock) 3. Lifecycle, LCC & Fleet Strategy 4. Safety, Regulation & ECM Certification 5. Testing, Acceptance, Audits & QA 6. Maintenance, Overhaul & Modification Procurement 7. ESG Reporting 8. IT Systems, Network Architecture & Cybersecurity 9. Technical Design (Electrical & Mechanical) 10. ETCS Retrofit & Upgrade Procurement Support 11. Rolling Stock Documentation Management & DMS Support The above‑mentioned components of the subject matter of the procurement are described in more detail in the preliminary service descriptions attached to this request for information. The descriptions also set out Railstock’s preliminary views on the suitability criteria relating to each lot and on the minimum requirements applicable to the services. In addition to the above‑mentioned annexes, a preliminary draft contract is attached to this request for information, on which market operators are invited to provide comments as described in section "Request for information". PRELIMINARY PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE The contract notice is currently planned to be published on 13 July 2026, and the provisional tender submission deadline is 23 August 2026. This indicative timetable is subject to change and does not bind the contracting entity.