NEB has ordered 31 new Mireo Plus B trains from Siemens for ten East Brandenburg lines between Berlin and the Polish border. EIB is financing the project with an investment loan of up to €95m for the development and purchase of the trains. The European Commission is supporting the project with funds from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport and the NER program.
The new trains will use overhead contact lines on electrified sections of the route to charge the batteries and power the trains on non-electrified sections. As soon as the railway’s electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, the trains will run on zero emissions.
This railway project is one of the first operations to fully meet both the climate and sustainability goals of the EU promotional bank. The EIB funds will be pooled together with around €70m from KfW IPEX-Bank and up to €34m from NordLB into a special purpose vehicle under the umbrella of Alpha Trains.
Alpha Trains is a Luxembourg leasing company specialized in rolling stock that will also make an equity contribution. The special purpose vehicle will own the trains and lease these to NEB. NordLB will act as arranger and agent in the financing operation.
Under this leasing structure, the financing of the trains is not affected by the duration of the operating contract that was concluded between NEB and the transport association Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) in the summer for a period of 12 years starting in December 2024.
In Germany, regional rail transport is co-financed by the federal states. Public transport companies such as the VBB regularly hold Europe-wide calls for tender for contracts lasting between ten and 15 years to stimulate competition among suppliers.
According to the EIB, the VBB may issue a new call for tender at the end of the service period. Whoever is awarded the contract can continue to use the lease agreement and the trains, which will be financed for 24 years. This significantly reduces the cost of capital for the bidders participating in the call for tender. As a result, the bid prices are lower, which is an advantage for the federal states.
Acting on behalf of the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg, the VBB guarantees that the leasing costs will be covered by ticket revenues when the trains enter service in December 2024.
Speaking about the project, EIB VP Ambroise Fayolle said, “We are pleased to be able to take such a big step on the road to carbon-neutral regional transport in the surrounding area of Berlin. Attractive regional trains are essential for the transition to climate-friendly mobility as they encourage commuters to switch from road to rail, thus avoiding the CO2 emissions and congestion caused using private transport.”
Detlef Bröcker, managing director of Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn, added, “The purchase of 31 battery-electric trains for the East Brandenburg network is a major step towards zero-emission mobility. We are pleased to be pursuing this new technology in the transport transition together with our long-standing partner Alpha Trains.”