GERMANY: Following a European tender, transport authorities go.Rheinland and VRR have selected incumbent DB Regio for a contract to operate Köln S-Bahn services until December 2032.
The contract is backdated to December 10 2023 and will see operations increase from 12·3 million to 14·2 million train-km/year.
DB Regio will initially use its own rolling stock, which will be modernised. However, procurement is underway for new trainsets to arrive by the end of the decade, which would be owned by the transport authorities and made available to the operator.
