The concession includes 5.1 million train-km within Bavaria, with the remaining 0.6 million train-km in Thüringen. The new contract, which incentivies the operator to maximise revenue while BEG takes on the energy and staff cost risk, will begin in December 2023 and run until December 2035.

The new contract maintains and expands existing services on the Nuremberg - Bamberg - Würzburg, Bamberg - Lichtenfels - Saalfeld, and Lichtenfels - Coburg - Sonneberg routes. A half hourly frequency will be introduced between Nuremberg and Bamberg to cope with rising passenger numbers, which increased by 50% over the last decade.

Regional serves will also be introduced along the full Ebenfurth - Erfurt high-speed line for the first time, with five train pairs planned daily from Nuremberg via Coburg to Erfurt. The number of regional trains using the Ebenfurth - Coburg high-speed line will also increase from four train pairs to eleven, with an expected journey time of 32 minutes.

DB will order a new fleet of 190km/h partly double-deck Desiro HC EMUs from Siemens to operate the services. The four-car and six-car trains will seat approximately 395 and 635 passengers respectively, and will be equipped with ETCS.

These trains will replace the existing Bombardier Talent 2 EMU fleet, which does not have the required capacity, along with two sets of double-deck coaches hauled by leased Railpool Vectron locomotives currently used for services using the Ebenfurth - Coburg high-speed line.

The Bavarian government will provide usage guarantees to underpin the financing of the new trains.

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