Overview
- The first departure leaves Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof at 05:31 with two coupled Alstom Coradia Continental units providing about 300 seats.
- Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn will alternate the new sets with legacy double-deck trains on RE6 before a full switch later in the first half of the year.
- VMS ordered 11 battery multiple units with roughly 150 seats each, and five trains have been delivered for training and early service.
- Roof-mounted batteries power unelectrified segments, charge during station stops with energy recovered on the move, offer up to about 120 km of range, and enable speeds up to 160 km/h.
- The start follows repeated delivery delays tied to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and hardware–software integration issues, and seeks to ease long-running reliability and capacity problems on the corridor.