CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) has given the Civity BEMU its very-first public premiere during this year’s InnoTrans in Berlin – marking the first time the company has ever presented a vehicle at the show.
The train, which recently completed an impressive 273km test solely in battery mode, is set to debut in the German market, and will gradually replace diesel units currently in use across the country.
The trains are equipped with an energy storage system, allowing for catenary-free operation in the Lower Rhine-Münsterland and northern Westphalia networks.
During the event, CAF thanked partners Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) & North Rhine-Westphalia Transport Association (NWL) for their contributions to the train’s realisation, recalling its development as a collaborative effort on all fronts.
Marking the company’s third BEMU premiere worldwide; it has committed to the delivery of 76 units to VRR, as well as 30 years of full maintenance works – the largest procurement order of battery trains in German history to date.
The vehicles will be delivered in two different configurations: a short type unit (2-cars with 3 bogies and 122 seats) and a long type unit (2-cars with 4 bogies and 160 seats), and all maintenance works will be carried out at a set of two new dedicated digitalised workshops: a main depot in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck and a satellite depot in Neubeckum.
Speaking during the unit’s unveiling; CAF representatives stated that the Civity BEMU represents ‘not just technological innovation, but the European ideal and an investment in a better future to come’.
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