Development of our fleet

Vehicle measures implemented

Measures to improve our vehicle fleet included: interior redesign, installation of passenger information and video recording systems and new paint.

• The modernization of 91 425 series electric multiple units was completed for the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn (metro) tender and the RB 44 between Mainz and Mannheim.
• Since 2016, 41 out of a total of 111 vehicles of the 474 series have been refurbished for S-Bahn (metro) Hamburg.
• A total of 36 vehicles of the 420 series and 238 vehicles of the 423 series are to be refurbished for the S-Bahn (metro) Munich transition contract. Nine 420 series electric multiple units and 21 423 series electric multiple units were modernized in the year under review.
• Twenty-nine out of the 48 422 series electric multiple units that were due to be modernized were rebuilt to provide the vehicles for the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (metro).
• Ten 642 series diesel multiple units and five 644 series diesel multiple units were rebuilt for the Ulm diesel network transitional contract. A further nine 650 series diesel multiple units will be modernized in 2019/2020.

New vehicle purchases

• Twelve 622 series diesel multiple units (LINT 54) and eight 623 series diesel multiple units (LINT 41) are being procured from Alstom for the Ulm diesel network contract that was awarded in 2016. These will be resold to the leasing company following acceptance and will be leased there for the duration of the transport contract in December 2020 when the transport contract begins.
• A further ten 490 series vehicles were reordered for the Hamburg S-Bahn (metro) network from an existing option.

Delays in vehicle deliveries

Vehicle availability improved during the year under review. However, there were still delays and restrictions relating to the delivery of new trains:

• Bombardier’s delayed delivery of the 2010 double-deck cars in December 2015 continued in the year under review with the addition of a further 78 vehicles (central and powered driving trailers). Consequently, all vehicles from the original orders were delivered and accepted before the end of July 2018. An additional train set is sched­­uled to be reordered in the first quarter of 2019.
• In December 2016, DB Regional had to rent a total of 15 locomotives and three diesel rail cars from Paribus for deployment as part of the transport contract for the Schleswig-Holstein West network. Of the 90 passenger cars to be rented as well, the last vehicles could only be made available at the end of July 2018 due to vehicle deficits. Due to outstanding points in the maintenance documen­tation, the vehicles have still not been made available. Existing vehicles from DB Regional and DB Long-Distance continue to be deployed until the points are clarified. The rental contract is expected be drawn up with Paribus early in 2019.
• Eight pre-production vehicles out of the 72 490 series vehicles for the Hamburg S-Bahn (metro) were delivered and provisionally accepted for testing under the contract. Since the vehicles do not meet all of the agreed requirements, DB Regional will gradually get more ve­hicles as part of a transfer of use from Bombardier in the first instance. Ten vehicles were deployed in De­­­cember 2018 for the Hamburg S-Bahn (metro) transport contract that had commenced operations. Vehicles from the 490 series are scheduled to be accepted under the contract from mid-2019.
• The delivery of the Link diesel multiple units from PESA (632/633 series) began in the second half of 2018, which means an end to the delivery delays is in sight after the Sauerland network and the Dreieich railway have waited over two years and the Allgäu diesel network over one year. Until then, the comprehensive replacement concepts using existing vehicles for the Sauerland and Dreieich networks will remain in place. All twenty 632 series vehicles for the Sauerland network were delivered in the second half of 2018.
• The delivery of the vehicles ordered from Škoda for the Nuremberg — Ingolstadt — Munich Express is also delayed beyond the first quarter of 2019.