GERMAN Railway is taking up more options for locomotives and regional tilting trains.
Most significant is a decision to exercise an option with Adtranz for 400 main line electric locos of Class 145. The main customer will be DB Cargo with 300 units; some of these may be built as two or three-system units for operation in neighbouring countries. The rest will go to DB Regio, and some are likely to be designated as Class 146 with a top speed of 160 rather than 140 km/h.
On March 10 DB announced that it will take up an option with Adtranz for 104 more Class VT612 diesel tilting trainsets. Some will be owned by DB’s long-distance passenger service subsidiary DB Reise & Touristik and will be equipped to run into Denmark. The first Class 612 sets in the original order are due to be delivered this summer.
A few days earlier, on February 27, Adtranz rolled out at Hennigsdorf the first of 40 articulated four-car Class ET424 units for DB’s Hannover S-Bahn electrified at 15 kV 16 2??3Hz (right). A further 156 similar sets are under construction by a consortium of Adtranz, Siemens and Deutsche Waggonbau AG, now owned by Bombardier. Class 424 has light alloy bodies with a floor height along most of the car of only 760mm over rail top to give same-level boarding from S-Bahn station platforms.
- DB’s first Talent unit built by Bombardier Talbot (p244) was formally handed over in Aachen on March 13. o
