desiro-rus-handover2.jpgThe initial batch of 38 five-car trains was ordered in December 2009, and production began at Krefeld last April. The first completed set is due to be shipped from the Baltic port of Sassnitz on February 28 and should arrive in Ust Luga, Russia, by March 1. The 160km/h trains, which have been dubbed "Lastochka" or "Swallow" by RZD, will enter service in time for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.
A second batch of 16 trains will be built at the Ural Locomotive Works facility in Verkhnaya Pyshma near Yekaterinburg by Train Technologies, a joint venture of Siemens and Russian partner Sinara, with deliveries due to begin next year. Train Technologies has a contract worth a Euros 2 billion to supply a further 240 Lastochka sets, and RZD says the level of local content will reach 80% by 2017.
Siemens will maintain the first 54 trains for 40 years under a contract signed with RZD last September.