"The goal is to scale down the fleet significantly and modernise it," Mes said at today's ceremony.

He added that the company would sign additional contracts by 2023, amounting to a complete overhaul of passenger transport by 2025. He expressed belief that additional 25 or 26 trains would be ordered from Stadler by autumn next year.

Darja Kocjan, the director general of the Directorate for Land Transport, said that more than EUR 1bn had been invested into road and rail infrastructure by the state so far.

"This is only the beginning of modernisation and I hope it continues," she said, noting that today's signing was possible only after the state and SŽ signed last year a 15-year contract on public railway passenger transport service.

EUR 165m has been earmarked by the government for the purchase of new passenger trains in the period between 2019 and 2031.

Stadler Rail CEO Peter Spuhler was also present at the signing. He said he was proud that his company would supply the new trains to Slovenia. Some 7,000 Stadler trains and locomotives are being used in 40 countries around the world as we speak, he added.

Stadler's was the only bid SŽ received for the investment. Mes said that other train makers did not vie because their production lines were at full capacity, while SŽ set a two-year delivery deadline for the deal.