GERMAN Railway announced on August 21 that it was to call tenders early next year for the supply of 203 diesel locomotives for its freight subsidiary Railion Deutschland (left). Options for a further 263 locos could lift the total value of the package to around €1·1bn.

Contracts for the supply of up to 1000 loco-hauled coaches for EuroCity and InterCity services are also being re-tendered this autumn, having been close to signing earlier this year (RG 4.03 p181). The two orders form part of DB’s fleet modernisation programme, which envisages €10bn being spent on new stock and refurbishment in 2002-07.

The tenders are being re-issued following a decision by the Federal Cartel Office that DB could not link the orders to the privatisation of its surplus rolling stock workshops. The railway’s original intention was that the contracts would provide an initial baseload for the new owners to keep the facilities open. In the light of the ruling, DB confirmed that it would have to make staff redundant at its carriage works in Delitzsch and the ICE servicing depot at Nürnberg.

  • At a press conference in Tharandt, near Dresden, DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn announced that the total cost to the railway of the flooding during August 2002 had reached €1025m. Of this around €500m had been covered by government grants, and €180m by the European Regional Development Fund.

    The ’Sachsen Magistrale’ main line between München, Hof and Dresden is not expected to re-open throughout until December, although local trains began running again between Chemnitz and Tharandt on September 6. n

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