The contract covers the delivery of 26 Siemens Velaro Multi System trains, which are structurally closely related to Deutsche Bahn’s ICE 3 and ICE 3 Neo trains. The agreement includes an option for 14 additional vehicles. Production will take place at Siemens’ plant in Krefeld, with maintenance for 30 years in Dortmund.
Italo CEO Gianbattista La Rocca said the company aims to offer passengers in Germany “greater choice, more frequent connections, fair prices, and high-quality service.” From 2028, the company plans to operate on two main corridors: Munich–Cologne–Dortmund and Munich–Berlin–Hamburg. This would connect 18 cities on a 1,300-kilometer network with a total of 50 daily services.
Overall, Italo is investing around 3.6 billion euros in its market entry. This includes not only train procurement and maintenance but also costs for hiring and training around 2,500 employees, as well as investments in stations and IT infrastructure. Deutsche Bahn currently controls about 95 percent of Germany’s long-distance rail market; its only major competitor so far is Flix. Under pressure from Italo, the Federal Network Agency decided that on heavily used corridors, at least a quarter of capacity must be allocated to competitors in the future.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
