All 82 RRX EMUs, which were ordered in February 2015, will be serviced and maintained at the depot for 32 years, creating 75 jobs, with test operations beginning in mid-2018.

The new four-car 160km/h trains are based on Siemens’s Desiro High Capacity product platform, which combines single-deck driving cars with double-deck intermediate vehicles.

Siemens says the depot will support a predictive maintenance regime which will identify faults long before failures actually occur. Data retrieved from the trains will be analysed at Siemens’ Mobility Data Services Center (MDS) in Munich-Allach, Germany. Here specialists will calculate failure predictions and recommend maintenance actions based on their findings.

The site of the new depot covers 70,000m2 and Rhine-Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR) owns the property until 2050 through a leasehold agreement with Siemens.

The rolling stock and maintenance contracts are worth a combined €1.7bn.