Railroad - The wait for new trains in the northwest continues
The expansion of rail transport in Bremen and parts of Lower Saxony continues to falter. As the rail technology company Alstom announced on Monday, 34 new trains for the Bremen-Lower Saxony express hub will not be delivered until 2025 instead of the end of 2024. The reasons given were the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which would have led to long-term staff shortages and material bottlenecks.
The express cross is to connect the cities of Bremen, Bremerhaven, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Norddeich, Hanover and Wilhelmshaven. Alstom was awarded the contract for the delivery of 34 double-decker trains in 2021 by the Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft (LNVG). Alstom has also been commissioned to maintain the trains for 30 years. The contract is worth around 760 million euros.
However, it was announced a year ago that Alstom would only be able to deliver 10 of the 34 trains by December 2024. The manufacturer will now not be able to meet this date either. The company stated that it regrets the postponed start of delivery. The entire fleet will only be available by the end of 2025. In order to achieve this, a single-digit million sum has been invested in the expansion of the Salzgitter production site.
In order to bridge the time until the new trains are delivered, the company will also organize modern electric trains as a replacement, it said. This will ensure that the planned rail traffic can continue.
"It is extremely annoying that there is this new delay," said Dirk Altwig, spokesman for the regional transport company. He emphasized: "Alstom is contractually obliged to provide a replacement." This applies to the trains, but also to their maintenance and staff training.
"We will of course now check again what claims we could have as a result of this new postponement," said the LNVG spokesperson. However, the consequences for passengers should be limited. "We are confident that Alstom will do everything it can to cushion the impact on rail passengers," said Altwig.
Read also:
- Despite the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the rail technology company Alstom is investing a single-digit million sum to expand its Salzgitter production site, ensuring the delivery of the 34 new trains for the Bremen-Lower Saxony express hub by the end of 2025.
- The Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine have resulted in long-term staff shortages and material bottlenecks, causing the rail technology company Alstom to delay the delivery of 34 new trains for the Bremen-Lower Saxony express hub from the end of 2024 to 2025.
- In order to bridge the time until the new trains are delivered, the company Alstom will organize modern electric trains as a replacement for the Bremen-Lower Saxony express hub, ensuring the continuity of the planned rail traffic.
- Due to the postponement in the delivery of the new trains, the rail traffic in cities such as Bremen, Bremerhaven, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Hanover, and Wilhelmshaven will be affected, but the regional transport company is confident that Alstom will work to mitigate the impact on passengers.
- The wait for new trains in the Northwest German cities, including Osnabrück, Bremerhaven, and Wilhelmshaven, continues as the rail technology company Alstom faces challenges in delivering the 34 double-decker trains resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
- Alstom, the rail technology company that won the contract in 2021 to deliver 34 double-decker trains to the Bremen-Lower Saxony express hub, will now not be able to meet the delivery deadline of December 2024, which was previously altered to 2025 in light of the Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
- The express route connecting cities like Bremen, Bremerhaven, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Norddeich, Hanover, and Wilhelmshaven will see a delay in the delivery of new trains due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the rail technology company Alstom's production capabilities.
Source: www.stern.de
