AUSTRIA: Austrian Federal Railways and Siemens Mobility have amended contracts for the supply of new passenger stock, increasing the number of day trains on order and reducing the number of night trains.
ÖBB will now purchase more Railjet New Generation fixed-formation day train sets than originally planned, to take the fleet to 40 rather than the previously-planned 27 sets by 2030. This order will comprise 12 nine-car sets, and 28 seven-car sets which will be able to operate in pairs within Austria and on routes to Germany.
The Nightjet sleeper train order has been reduced from 33 to 24 sets, for delivery by mid-2026.
ÖBB said the adjustment is intended to help meet strong passenger growth in recent years; more than 511 million people travelled with the national operator in 2024. ‘We see strong growth in international daytime long-distance traffic on routes to our neighbouring countries in the coming years. We will therefore continue to expand the capacity of our Railjet fleet’, said ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä on July 10.
