GERMANY: The Land of Baden-Württemberg’s rolling stock owning body SFBW has awarded Alstom a €500m contract to supply a further 26 Coradia Max partly double-deck electric multiple-units from mid to late 2028 and provide full maintenance until the end of 2055.
The order announced on January 15 has been placed under a May 2022 agreement which covered a €2·5bn firm order for 130 Coradia Max units to be introduced from December 2026, with options to order up to 100 more.
The four-car 106 m long, 200 km/h EMUs will have two double-deck driving cars and two single-deck intermediate cars, providing a total of 380 seats. They will have powerful air-conditioning, free wi-fi, charging facilities for mobile phones and laptops, reading lamps and multi-purpose spaces for large luggage, prams and bicycles. Facilities for people with reduced mobility will include step-free access from standard 760 mm high platforms and wheelchair lifts for use at stations with different platform heights.
The EMUs will carry the region’s white, yellow and black livery, and will made available to contracted operators DB Regio Baden-Württemberg and Arverio for use on Stuttgart-Bodensee-Netz 35 lot 1 and 2 services.
‘We are investing a total of around €3bn in 156 state-of-the-art and comfortable Coradia Max trains’, said Baden-Württemberg Transport Minister Winfried Hermann. ‘We are thus creating capacity for the high passenger demand of recent years. More capacity helps where it is already full today. More comfort ensures that passengers feel comfortable onboard with us. With these vehicles, we will be able to significantly improve local and regional transport services, especially after railway hub Stuttgart 21 goes into operation.’
