CAF wins battery-electric trains contract in Germany

News
1 min read

The contract for the production, delivery and long-term maintenance of 63 locally emission-free traction units has been signed in Kempen, Germany.

Spanish vehicle manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has secured a contract from Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL) transport authorities in Germany to deliver battery-electric trains.

VRR and NWL had previously awarded the CAF the contract after a Europe-wide tendering process and are thus relying on innovative drive technologies in regional transport. From 2025, the SPNV authorities will switch diesel operation in the Niederrhein-Münsterland network (NMN) to locally emission-free vehicles and offer passengers additional seating capacity.

The VRR and the neighboring local transport authority NWL rely on innovative drives to improve the climate balance of local public transport and to further promote the turnaround in transport.
Diesel operation in the Niederrhein-Münsterland network (NMN) will be switched to locally emission-free vehicles.
Dr Hendrik Schulte, state secretary in the Ministry of Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia said, "We want to encourage more people to travel by bus and train. To do this, we need a reliable and flexible rail service. Clean and modern electric trains will significantly improve mobility and thus the quality of life of people in the region in the future. In addition, the fine dust and nitrogen oxides are reduced and the noise is reduced. For this purpose, VRR and NWL are procuring 63 battery-electric vehicles (so-called BEMU) from CAF. The company will not only produce and deliver the trains, but also maintain and maintain them over their entire life cycle of around 30 years."


"This makes the Niederrhein-Münsterland network the first SPNV network in NRW with alternative drives and at the same time the largest BEMU network in the whole of Germany," said VRR board member Ronald RF Lünser.

The network includes the seven regional transport lines RE 10, RE 14, RE 44, RB 31, RB 36, RB 37 and RB 43 with annual transport services of over six million train kilometers.