Raaberbahn plans to order five regional trains from Siemens

The Austrian operative part of the privately owned railway Raab-Oedenburg-Ebenfurter Eisenbahn AG (German name: Raaberbahn AG; Hungarian name: GYSEV Zrt.) is placing an order with Siemens – subject to a successful bidding procedure for financing – for five Desiro ML regional multiple unit trains.

Credit: Siemens

The Raaberbahn is the only cross-border private railway in Austria and operates mainly in western Hungary and eastern Austria, Burgenland province and metropolitan Vienna. These regional three-car electric multiple units are to be built with two-system capability (15 kV AC / 25 kV AC) and delivered from mid-2016 onwards. The trains will be built at the Siemens plant in Krefeld, Germany, while the bogies will be supplied from the Siemens works in Graz, Austria.

“The new trains represent a milestone for future rail traffic between Deutschkreuz and Vienna, and between Pamhagen and Vienna in cooperation with Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB)”, said Dr. Csaba Székely, Managing Board Director Raaberbahn, at the signing ceremony.

The Desiro ML trains will be delivered as three-car basic units, each with four doors on each side of entry and 259 comfortable seats. They will benefit from a particularly high level of equipment and excellent passenger comfort and achieve a top speed of 160km/h. Convenient low-floor entrances guarantee barrier-free access without ramps, even for wheelchair users and families with strollers or baby carriages. The floor height is 600mm.

The Desiro ML is a flexible and reliable vehicle which, thanks to its conception as permanently coupled trains, can be individually adapted to passenger volumes. With their improved drive systems, allowing further reductions in energy consumption compared with predecessor models, they are especially kind to the environment.

The design of the trains also makes use of ecologically sound materials, for example in the paint finish and internal fittings.