AUSTRIA: The first two vehicles for Austrian Federal Railways’ new fleet of Nightjet overnight trainsets have been dispatched from Siemens Mobility’s Simmering plant in Wien for the start of testing and certification.
The first vehicles to be released are a push-pull driving trailer seated car and an intermediate coach. Unlike the earlier Railjet day trains, the cab end of the driving cab trailer follows the styling of the manufacturer’s Vectron locomotive family.
Within a 2018 framework agreement covering up to 700 passenger coaches, ÖBB has now ordered 33 seven-car overnight trains in two batches. An initial 13 were ordered in August 2018 and a further 20 in August 2021. The first complete set is scheduled to be delivered for testing in early 2022, with ÖBB anticipating that the trains will enter service from the December 2022 timetable change. Delivery of the additional 20 sets is expected to start in 2024.
Meanwhile, delivery of the seven Railjet2 sets ordered in 2018 to work daytime inter-city services has reportedly been delayed. ÖBB now expects that only one of the nine-car sets will be delivered in 2022, and this will initially be used for test running.
The initial batch of 13 overnight trains are intended to operate Nightjet services from Austria and Germany to Italy. The additional sets will be deployed on the Wien/Innsbruck – Hamburg/ Amsterdam, Wien/Graz – Zürich and Zürich – Hamburg/Amsterdam routes.
Each seven-car push-pull set will be formed of two seats cars, two sleeping cars and three couchettes. The sleeping car standard and deluxe compartments will have a private toilet and shower. The couchette cars will feature single bed mini-suites providing a higher level of privacy for single travellers. Each set will include a multifunctional vehicle with a low-floor entrance, an accessible couchette compartment, and an accessible toilet. The trains will be equipped with onboard wi-fi, offering free access to streamed content, digital newspapers and magazines.
