The contract will be signed after a 10-day appeal period and includes 30 years' maintenance for the fleet of four-car 15kV 16.7Hz ac trains, which will be introduced on lines S2, S3, S9, RB3, RB40, and RB41 from December 2019.
VRR is planning to launch a tender within the next few months for the operation of these lines. Proposed enhancements include:
- increasing 15-minute interval services on Line 1 between Essen and Dortmund
- 15-minute interval peak services on the Dortmund Mengede - Dortmund Main Station section of Line S2 and the Dortmund Lütgendortmund - Unna Königsborn section of Line S4
- faster journey times on the Essen - Wuppertal (RB41) and Dortmund - Gelsenkirchen - Duisburg (RB3) lines, and
- new direct services on the Recklingshausen - Bottrop - Essen Wuppertal, Wesel - Mülheim an der Ruhr - Essen - Wuppertal (RB41) and Bottrop - Duisburg - Krefeld - Mönchengladbach (RB33) routes.
In addition to the new Stadler trains, VRR has purchased 48 class 422 EMUs from DB Regio for use on these services.
