CZECH REPUBLIC: ČD has acquired 22 RegioShuttle RS1 railcars from HEROS Helvetic Rolling Stock at a cost of €15·5m.
Built in 1997, the MAN-powered low-floor single-car DMUs were previously operated by Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs AG’s Hohenzollernische Landesbahn on Zollernalbbahn services 1 and 2, but have now been replaced by Alstom Lint 54 DMUs.
The fleet of 24 railcars was bought by HEROS Helvetic Rolling Stock, which has now sold 22 on to ČD but has retained two for leasing out by its HEROS Rail Rent subsidiary.
The first five railcars arrived in the Czech Republic on December 14 via the Furth im Wald/Česká Kubice border crossing and were stored in Louny. Eight more are scheduled to arrive by the end of the year, with the remaining nine to be overhauled in Germany before delivery in 2021.
ČD plans to deploy the refurbished vehicles on regional services from late 2021, replacing ageing Class 809 and 814/914 railcars. In 2011-13 it took delivery of 33 similar Stadler RS1 Class 840/841 railcars branded as RegioSpider, for use on services in the Liberecký (16) and Vysočina (17) regions. It also hired another four units from Länderbahn.
‘The sale of the Zollernalb fleet seamlessly at its end of life is a stroke of luck for us’, commented Tobias Harms, Chairman of the Management Board at SWEG. ‘The Czech state railway operator was quickly convinced by the very good overall technical condition of these rather aged trains.’
