The trains will be introduced in December 2017 and will be used on Hanau – Gross Umstadt Wiebelsbach services, offering 35% more seating capacity than the Bombardier class 615 Itino DMUs currently used on these services. This will release class 615s to strengthen other services.

Unlike the class 615s, which are owned by RMV subsidiary Fahrzeugmanagement Region Frankfurt Rhein-Main (Fahma), the Alstom trains are being procured directly by the operator.

Established in 2005, Vias is jointly owned by Danish State Railways' (DSB) German subsidiary DSB Deutschland and German private operator Rurtalbahn. The company was awarded a new 12-year contract in June 2014 to operate the Odenwald concession, which encompasses the Frankfurt/Hanau – Eberbach, Darmstadt – Gross Umstadt – Erbach (Odenwald), and Darmstadt – Pfungstadt lines.