Guests including Mayor of Eisenach Katja Wolf and 'Martin Luther' attended a ceremony on December 8 to name a Talent 2 EMU used on Abellio's Saale-Thüringen-Südharz-Netz services 'Die Wartburg'.

GERMANY: Sachsen-Anhalt transport authority NASA has selected Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland to operate Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt passenger services for 14 years from December 2018.

NASA is procuring the services on behalf of the Länder of Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen and the greater Braunschweig region. The preferred bidder was named on December 14, with formal award of the contracts subject to the 10-day standstill period.

The two contracts cover routes in central Germany totalling 8·6 million train-km a year:

Lot A:

  • Express 11/21/31 Magdeburg – Halberstadt – Thale/Blankenburg/Goslar, (extended to Berlin on weekends);
  • Express 4/24 Halle (Saale) – Halberstadt – Goslar;
  • Regional 43 Magdeburg – Oschersleben.

Lot B:

  • Regional 35 Stendal – Wolfsburg;
  • Regional 36 Magdeburg – Wolfsburg;
  • Regional 41 Magdeburg – Güsten – Aschersleben;
  • Regional 50 Dessau – Güsten – Aschersleben;
  • Express 10 Magdeburg – Sangerhausen – Erfurt;
  • Regional 77 Naumburg (Saale) – Nebra – Wangen.

There are options to adjust service provision to match the future availability of regional funding.

The services are to be operated with a fleet of 52 Alstom Coradia Lint 140 km/h diesel multiple-units, with easy access, an accessible toilet, cycle spaces, power outlets at around half the seats, onboard ticket machines, CCTV, wi-fi and passenger information. Every train will have customer service staff.

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