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Battery trains: Stadler’s new order from ÖBB is signed
The rail vehicle manufacturer from Eastern Switzerland can deliver 16 battery trains of the Flirt Akku type to Austria with a value of over 100 million euros. Further orders are to follow.
The prototype of Stadler’s Flirt Akku battery train.
Image: zvg
The Eastern Swiss rail vehicle manufacturer Stadler has received another order from Austria. According to this, ÖBB will initially procure 16 such Flirt Akku trains from Stadler under a new framework contract for up to 120 battery trains, and more are to follow. Three days after the Viennese newspaper “Der Standard” reported on the agreement, Stadler confirmed it on Friday. According to the newspaper, a train costs between 7 and 9 million euros.
The framework agreement with a term of ten years and a possible maximum volume of 1.3 billion euros and the first call are to be signed in autumn 2023. From 2028, Stadler battery trains will replace diesel trains on non- or partially electrified branch lines in eastern Austria. On sections without overhead lines, the trains run on battery power.
As soon as they arrive at a transfer station, from which the route continues electrified, the trains draw their power for operation from the overhead line, and the battery is charged at the same time. “Der Standard” cites Wiener Neustadt as an example of such a station for changing the energy supply.
Stadler leaves competitor Siemens behind
According to the newspaper, Stadler outperformed the German Siemens with the Flirt Akku, which had sent its Mireo multifunction train into the race. Since Siemens did not lodge a complaint against the award of the contract during the ten-day standstill period, it can now be legally awarded to Stadler.
ÖBB recently ordered 35 more electric Kiss-type double-deckers from Stadler under a framework agreement for up to 186 trains. This means that ÖBB has already ordered 76 Kiss vehicles worth 1.2 billion euros for local and long-distance transport from this agreement.
Stadler has already sold 113 Flirt Akkus to Germany. 55 vehicles are intended for the Schleswig-Holstein local transport association, 44 for the Palatinate network and 14 for the H network of Deutsche Bahn in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The trains for Schleswig-Holstein will be put into operation in 2023.
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