Germany: The trains were built by Bombardier Transportation, which was acquired by Alstom three years ago. Their new owners are Rock Rail and abrdn Core Infrastructure of the UK, for whom Alstom will equip the vehicles with ETCS Level 2.
These 31 six-car trains are part of a fleet of 46 units ordered from Bombardier by the Austrian national operator OBB between 2016 and 2018. The contract, however, was cancelled due to delays in certification. In 2022, CAF acquired the intellectual rights for the Talent, but an undisclosed number of trains have not been sold.
Three of the trains finally sold will be leased by Abellio Rail and 28 units by SWEG for operation on a line between Halle and Saalfeld and on the Stuttgart rail hub. The same model has been in service on these networks since 2023, having previously been leased to operators by Alstom.
