Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has signed a framework agreement to procure up to 700 passenger coaches from Siemens Mobility over the next five years.
The initial order from ÖBB comprises eight nine-car trains for day service and 13 seven-car trains for night service.
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If all the service options are executed, the overall contract agreement will value more than €1.5bn.
Under the first order, Siemens will supply Viaggio coaches, which will be operated with ÖBB’s Siemens Taurus locomotive fleet.
To be manufactured at Siemens’ facility in Vienna, the trains are expected to enter service from 2022.
ÖBB-Holding CEO Andreas Matthä said: “With the new trainsets for day and night service, ÖBB is systematically continuing its campaign to further enhance passenger comfort. With the additional trains for the Nightjet, we’ll be underpinning our leading role in overnight travel in Europe.”
The framework agreement includes the delivery of multiple types of passenger coaches such as cab cars, multi-purpose cars, sleeping and couchette cars, as well as first-class and second-class cars. The agreement can also be extended by ÖBB beyond 2023.
They will be used in operations across various European countries, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
The coaches can also be equipped for operations in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland.
With a seating capacity for 520 people, the daytime trains will be low-floored with extra wide doors to facilitate swift movement of passengers. The night trains will have 100 seats and 160 couchettes.
All the trains will feature LED interior lighting and climate control with cooling and heating modes.
Siemens Mobility CEO Sabrina Soussan said: “Viaggio passenger trains offer great flexibility across borders, as well as state-of-the-art passenger comfort, combined with low maintenance costs and high operational availability.”
