The contract was signed by Rhineland Local Transport (NVR), Rhineland-Pfalz North Passenger Transport (SPNV-Nord), Rhineland-Pfalz South Passenger Transport (SPNV- Süd) with leasing firm Alpha Trains and TransRegio, a subsidiary of Transdev, to expand the existing fleet with six new Mireo trains from Siemens.

TransRegio has been using trains provided by Alpha Trains for the Middle Rhine Railway since December 2008, and currently operates 17 three-car Siemens Desiro Mainline EMUs on the Cologne Messe - Deutz - Koblenz - Mainz route.  

The new Mireo trains will be used primarily on the RB 26 section between Mainz and Bingen.

“As a result, existing trains will be freed up and we’ll be able to serve the highly-frequented route between Cologne and Remagen with triple-unit Desiro Mainline trains,” said NVR managing director, Mr Heiko Sedlaczek. “This is equivalent to a 50% capacity increase on this stretch and will be a huge improvement for our passengers.”

The basic car body of the Mireo was developed as a lightweight welded integral aluminium monocoque design. Siemens says the train’s improved aerodynamics, energy-efficient components and intelligent on-board network management system reduce the use of resources and lower emissions as well as noise. The Mireo has a recycling quota of 95% at the end of its service life.

Assembly of the new trains is scheduled to begin at the end of 2019 at Siemens’ factory in Krefeld, Germany.

The trains are equipped with larger, ergonomically designed seats, an HVAC system with CO2 sensors that can regulate the temperature in each car separately, and multipurpose areas with space for bicycles and other bulky items.

The trains are also equipped with Wi-Fi, passenger information screens, CCTV and toilets with barrier-free access. To facilitate passenger boarding, the doors have two overlapping sliding steps that can be extended depending on the platform height.

“We’re providing our customer a train in record time,” says Siemens CEO, Ms Sabrina Soussan. “This is possible due to the high flexibility of the Mireo platform. As a scalable articulated train featuring bogies with inside bearings, the Mireo is especially energy efficient. This increases sustainability over the train’s entire lifecycle.”

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