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GERMANY: Italian open access operator Italo has placed a firm order for Siemens Mobility to supply and maintain 320 km/h Velaro high speed trainsets for use on future services in Germany, saying this marks ‘a decisive step towards the introduction of competition in one of Europe’s largest railway markets’.
The €3bn contract announced on July 20 includes 26 Velaro Multi System trainsets and a 30-year full service agreement. There is an option to order 14 more trainsets.
Italo plans to offer an hourly München – Köln – Dortmund service and a two-hourly München – Berlin – Hamburg service from April 2028, with 50 daily trips serving 18 cities on a 1 300 km network.
Velaro trainsetsThe eight-car trainsets to be manufactured in Krefeld will have about 440 to 450 seats in Club Executive, Prima Business and Smart classes, and a bistro. They will be equipped to use 1.5 kV and 3 kV DC as well as 15 kV 16.7 Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz electrification. There will be Starlink high speed satellite internet connectivity for passengers.
Maintenance will be undertaken at Siemens Mobility’s own depot in Dortmund, where the supplier will make use of its Railigent X digital platform to support predictive maintenance and operational efficiency throughout the fleet’s lifecycle.
‘Italo Holding’s decision is a strong vote of confidence in Siemens Mobility and in Velaro, one of the world’s most successful high speed platforms’, said Siemens Mobility CEO Michael Peter. He said the long-term deal ‘is a landmark project and a strong commitment to industrial value creation and innovation made in Germany’.
€3.6bn investmentItalo said it is investing €3.6bn entering the German market, including the purchase of the trains, investments in stations and IT infrastructure and the recruitment and training of around 2 500 employees.
Italo will be the first major private operator to compete on the German high speed network, in the same way that it competes with Trenitalia in Italy. Other long-distance open access operators such as FlixTrain and Leo Express predominantly use conventional lines.
‘We intend to offer German passengers greater choice, more frequent services, fair prices and high quality service’, said Gianbattista La Rocca, CEO of Italo Holding. Thanking shareholders MSC, BlackRock’s GIP, Allianz and its founding partners for their ‘strong support throughout this phase’, he said the investment ‘reflects the depth of our commitment to this market’.
‘A concrete step towards a single transport market’Italo Holding owns 100% of Italo, which operates in Italy and fully controls Itabus, and 100% of the newly-formed Italo International which is the entity responsible for managing Italo’s activities outside Italy.
Italo International fully owns Atrium, which will manage the operations in Germany, and Mainsee which will own the trains. Atrium and Mainsee are incorporated under German law and headquartered in Frankfurt.
‘Today marks the beginning of an important chapter for European rail mobility’, said Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, President of Italo Holding, when the train order was announced. ‘Italo’s arrival in Germany is not just the arrival of a new operator, but a concrete step towards a single transport market, capable of overcoming the patchy liberalisations that still fragment Europe.’
He said ‘I believe in a system that puts citizens at the centre, giving them the ability to choose how and with whom they travel. This project is born from the union between the experience of Italo, the first private high speed operator that achieved the first major liberalisation of the European rail sector in Italy, and the great potential of Germany: a strategic rail network for the entire continent, and an industrial partner like Siemens Mobility capable of building top-quality trains.
‘A new company rooted in Germany will be born, providing jobs and opportunities for thousands of German professionals and which I am confident will generate market growth, fairer prices and better services for travellers. It demonstrates that Europe, when it chooses to open up and collaborate, can create shared value. A small but significant step towards a more integrated Europe, which today more than ever we would appreciate. need. I am proud of it, as an Italian but even more so as a European.’
Commenting on the order, the AllRail association of new entrants to the rail market said it ‘demonstrates the scale of private investment that genuine competition can bring to Europe’s passenger railways.’
AllRail said its goal is ‘for independent, privately owned passenger operators to match state-owned incumbents in scale, ambition and market size – just as independent operators have already done in EU rail freight. This major investment by Italo puts Europe firmly on the way towards achieving that goal.’
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