NETINERA Deutschland and Alstom sign a contract for 63 Coradia Lint regional trains

NETINERA Deutschland and Alstom Transport have signed a contract worth around €300 million for the supply of 63 Coradia Lint regional trains. The new trains will run between Frankfurt and Saarbrücken (Nahe/Rhine-Hessen region), and between Koblenz and Kaiserslautern (Saar region) from December 2014. The 63 trains will operate in the Southwest Diesel Network and will cover all together a distance of 6.7 million kilometres each year. Alstom develops and manufactures the Coradia Lint trains at its Salzgitter site, in Germany.

This contract was signed on the occasion of Innotrans, the International Trade Fair for Transport Technology in Berlin (Germany).

“The acquisition of these new trains from Alstom gives the growth potential from NETINERA on the German market an important impulse and is a big step for the group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane to embrace the challenges in Europe – from the railway operating perspective as well as for the technical knowhow”, says Mauro Moretti, CEO of the Italian State Railways, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), mother company of NETINERA Deutschland GmbH. Jost Knebel, CEO of NETINERA Deutschland, adds: “We are very pleased to be able to offer the passengers an improved mass transit concept in that region, using our longstanding expertise, the extraordinarily high service orientation of our employees and the new trainsets“.

“We are delighted to sign our first contract with NETINERA Deutschland. With more than 700 regional trains sold over the past fifteen years, we provide our customers and their passengers a proven, comfortable and environmentally friendly means of transport“, states Henri Poupart-Lafarge, President of Alstom Transport. “Our Coradia Lint trains are based on an extended and fully developed platform which has become the reference in terms of quality and cost efficiency”, explains Dr.Martin Lange, member of the board of Alstom Deutschland AG responsible for Transport.

The Coradia two and three-car diesel multiple units can run at a maximum speed of 140 km/h. They benefit from high acceleration capacities in order to meet the requirements of fast regional traffic. To increase passengers’ safety, Coradia Lint is equipped with monitoring cameras and with the newest crash elements. Alstom has implemented a series of measures according to the European Standard for Collision Safety of Rail Vehicles (EN 15227*).

The new trains provide large seating capacities with 160 seats (Lint 54) and 270 seats (Lint 81). They are equipped with comfortable seats, spacious aisles, air conditioning systems and low-floor entrances to meet passengers’ requirements with respect to comfort and access. Coradia Lint is particularly adapted to passengers with reduced mobility thanks to wheelchair spaces, an intercom and a ramp for bridging the gap between the train and the platform.

Coradia Lint meets the most stringent emission standard of the presently applicable Stage IIIb regulation and will be more environmentally effective than the trains used so far in the Southwest Diesel Network. The emission control and measures inside the engine are expected to reduce the emission of particles to about 90%. The innovative engine management allows for a reduced diesel consumption and consequently leads to a reduction in CO2 emission. In addition, the trains will be equipped for the first time with fuel consumption and tank level indicators to optimize fuel consumption.