(New: More details)
MUNICH/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Deutsche Bahn is ordering more than 3,300 new buses for the next few years. The main supplier will be the Munich manufacturer MAN, from where the majority of the order will come. “The Chinese manufacturer BYD is supplying a smaller fleet of electric intercity buses from its production in Hungary,” the railway said. Accordingly, there are almost 200 pieces. There was renewed criticism of the partial award to the Chinese, citing security risks.
According to Deutsche Bahn, the cost of the buses is more than one billion euros. The framework agreements have a term of six years. The buses are scheduled to be delivered between 2027 and 2032. MAN belongs to the VW commercial vehicle holding company (Volkswagen (VW) vz) TRATON.
Largest order in MAN history
This is the largest bus order in the company’s history for both the railway’s regional transport division and its main supplier MAN. “The new framework agreement with Deutsche Bahn is a historic procurement order,” says MAN boss Alexander Vlaskamp. “The fact that a significant proportion of the vehicles will be fully electric impressively underlines the contribution that Deutsche Bahn and MAN are making to the sustainable transformation of public transport.” The package also includes combustion engines and hybrid models.
“The long-term contracts guarantee that we always have modern vehicles and can continue to develop them closely with the manufacturers,” said the new DB Regional boss Harmen van Zijderveld.
According to the DB, all buses offer USB ports on the seats so that passengers can charge their cell phones and smartphones on the go. Specially padded seats are designed to ensure comfort when traveling overland. In addition, all new solo and articulated buses are air-conditioned; the electric buses are said to have air conditioning systems with a climate-neutral refrigerant and do not require additional fossil heating. For road safety, all new buses are equipped with, among other things, LED headlights, turning assistants and reversing cameras.
MAN has often delivered buses to Deutsche Bahn
With around 561 million passengers in 2024, DB Regio is the largest provider in German bus transport. On average, 1.5 million people in Germany travel on DB Regio buses every day.
MAN has already supplied the railway with many buses in the past – in the past 15 years, according to the company, there have been almost 5,000 for city and intercity transport. The railway’s regional transport subsidiary, DB Regio, operates numerous buses throughout Germany.
The Green Party parliamentary group deputy Konstantin von Notz criticized the order given to the Chinese provider BYD. The decision raises questions, for example whether security policy aspects were given adequate consideration, he told the Editorial Network Germany (RND). It must be ensured that manipulation of critical transport infrastructure and the shutdown of entire fleets can be ruled out remotely.
In the past few days, fueled by media reports, there had been speculation about an even larger delivery from the Chinese manufacturer BYD. The “Spiegel” reported around 700 BYD vehicles, the railway denied this number. According to the “Spiegel” report, DB Regio ordered electric buses from BYD for the first time in 2021./DP/zb
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