The so-called “Freiburg Y” network comprises three routes:
• Elztal Line (Freiburg - Denzlingen - Waldkirch - Elzach)
• Kaiserstuhl Line (Riegel-Malterdingen - Endingen am Kaiserstuhl - Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl - Breisach), and
• Münstertal Line (Bad Krozingen - Staufen - Münstertal).
The new contract begins on the Münstertal and Kaiserstuhl lines in December 2019, and December 2020 on the Elztal Line. All three lines will be electrically operated using new Bombardier Talent 3 EMUs. The trains, which will be supplied under a framework agreement signed in 2015, will have an entry floor height of 55cm to enable level boarding at stations.
Electrification of the Elztal Line has been delayed due to objections from local residents.
“We are determined to start electric service on the Elztal Line as soon as possible,” says Baden Württemberg minister of transport Dr Winfried Hermann. “If construction is completed by the end of 2019, electric services could take place in March 2020.”
Hermann says the new trains will be introduced on the Freiburg - Denzlingen section of the route by March 2020, regardless of progress with the remainder of the project.
Services on all three lines will operate according to minimum frequencies specified by the state, with additional trains funded by Freiburg transport authority ZRF. Services will operate half-hourly on the busiest sections of the network, with hourly services to Elzach.
