The agreement, which could be worth up to €1.2bn, was signed yesterday at InnoTrans by DB's head of rail technology and infrastructure Dr Volker Kefer and Ulrich Homburg, DB board member for passenger transport, together with Mr Robert Swiechowicz, chief financial officer of Pesa, and head of marketing and development Mr Marcin Jedryczka.

The agreement, which is the first between the two companies, calls for flexibility of configuration, particularly in terms of maximum speed and capacity, and will allow DB to place orders with Pesa until the end of 2018.

DB will have options to purchase one, two or three-car sets with a maximum speed of 120 or 140km/h.

Pesa's first Link dmu for a German customer was unveiled at InnoTrans on September 18. Regentalbahn ordered 12 two-car trains for the Regensburg – Marktedwitz – Schirnding line in December 2011.