Metronom bags Lower Saxony Electric Network contract Transport and Related Services

German regional operator Metronom after succeeding a Europe-wide tender, has been selected for a contract to manage the Eastern Lower Saxony Electric Network (ENNO) for 10 years from December 2015 by the Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG).

The contract treats 2.1 million train-km per year on the Hannover – Wolfsburg and Hildesheim – Braunschweig – Wolfsburg routes and is scheduled to be signed following the end of a statutory 10-day appeal duration on August 15.

Metronom already performs regional services on various routes in northern Germany, covering Hamburg – Bremen and Hamburg – Uelzen – Hanover – Göttingen. Last month, Metronom has been awarded by LNVG, a two-year extension to carry on operating Hamburg – Cuxhaven regional services until December 2017.

Metronom already has double-deck coaches and a large fleet of advance Bombardier locomotives but the ENNO contract will be performed utilizing rolling stock supplied by the leasing company Regionalbahnfahrzeuge Grossraum Braunschweig (RFGB), which has been formed by the public transport authorities involved.

20 new Alstom Coradia Continental EMUs has been ordered by RFGB for the ENNO network, which will be set up locally at Alstom's Salzgitter plant. The trains will be managed by Alstom for 20 years and the contract, which was signed in December 2012, covers an option for 13 addition sets.

Delivery of the new trains is dated for next year, consisting the authorisation to place in service (APS) and compliance with the European directive concerning Passengers with Reduced Mobility (2008/164).

Alstom's Salzgitter plant has been awarded many orders for rolling stock by the regional transport authorities in Lower Saxony as bidders for these contracts are scored on regional social and economic impacts.