Future of Munich-Italy Eurocity trains after the opening of Brenner Base Tunnel

[Stephen Lee]

i wondered if the trains mentioned will upgrade into Railjet Trains after the opening of Brenner Base Tunnel.......

 

[317666]

ÖBB have ordered some new coaches from Siemens for both day and night services, expected to enter service from 2022. They're from the Viaggio product family which the Railjet sets also are, so I'd imagine they'll be broadly similar if not operated as Railjets themselves.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The tunnel is due for completion in 2028 (I think they are about half way).
Life could be different by then.
You'd also expect the Italians to take some interest in the route.
Trenitalia (Frecce) and Italo (AGV/Pendolino) currently run high speed services as far as Bolzano.

The main purpose of the tunnel is to increase heavy freight capacity between middle Europe and Italian ports.
In eastern Austria, the new Semmering and Koralm tunnels are due for completion at about the same time and have a similar purpose, as well as better linking Styria and Carinthia to Vienna.

 

[EAD]

Just to add to what has been mentioned above, the main driver for new stock is the change in rail fire safety standards in Italy - this has been a long running topic which if I recall currently Austrian stock has an exemption for by exception. It runs out in 2022 and therefore there is no option but to order new stock for the Brenner services.

The original (German) press release from 2018 when the framework agreement was agreed with Siemens is here https://press.siemens.com/global/de...iessen-rahmenvertrag-ueber-reisezugwagen-fuer . The 8, 9 carriage trains that form part of the initial contract entered into (rather than the broader framework for upto 700 carriages) are for the Brenner. It also makes clear existing Taurus locos will be used - that makes sense given a sub group of 1216s are passed for Italian running.

In terms of route - I am not sure much will change being frank unless they plan to stop serving Brenner (which using the tunnel would mean).

 

[cactustwirly]

Just to add to what has been mentioned above, the main driver for new stock is the change in rail fire safety standards in Italy - this has been a long running topic which if I recall currently Austrian stock has an exemption for by exception. It runs out in 2022 and therefore there is no option but to order new stock for the Brenner services.

The original (German) press release from 2018 when the framework agreement was agreed with Siemens is here https://press.siemens.com/global/de...iessen-rahmenvertrag-ueber-reisezugwagen-fuer . The 8, 9 carriage trains that form part of the initial contract entered into (rather than the broader framework for upto 700 carriages) are for the Brenner. It also makes clear existing Taurus locos will be used - that makes sense given a sub group of 1216s are passed for Italian running.

In terms of route - I am not sure much will change being frank unless they plan to stop serving Brenner (which using the tunnel would mean).

Interesting, is the fire safety a regional thing?
Trenitalia operate quite a lot of old stock, including some EuroFima stock which is almost identical to the ÖBB EuroCity coaches.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Is RailJet stock exempt from the fire regulations?
RJs work the Vienna-Villach-Venice trains via the Pontebba tunnels.
An RJ also works a Bolzano-Innsbruck-Vienna service via the Brenner tunnels.
Most of the original route was built by the Austrians, of course, although the modern tunnels are Italian.

 

[EAD]

So I did a bit more digging on this (though despite trawling the relevant safety standards in Italian have not put my finger firmly on the changes) There are of course European TSIs too as regards train equipment as well as national but linked tunnel fire standards and emergency management.

The Railjet sets working into Italy are already compliant from what I understand (so those on the Südbahn via Tarvisio and the new Bozen/Bolzano Innsbruck and on service).

Yes the point on existing stock is well made, though I suspect this will relate to specific requirements in the context of long distance stock/their operation (e.g. on train crew comms.) and a lot of the Tipo Z Eurofirmas and follow on Z1 carriages have been rebuilt extensively. That does not answer how this applies though.

 

[Austriantrain]

Is RailJet stock exempt from the fire regulations?
RJs work the Vienna-Villach-Venice trains via the Pontebba tunnels.
An RJ also works a Bolzano-Innsbruck-Vienna service via the Brenner tunnels.
Most of the original route was built by the Austrians, of course, although the modern tunnels are Italian.

RJ sets are not exempt, but the last 9 ÖBB sets built (nr 52 to 60) have been built conforming to these regulations. Older sets cannot be used to Italy.

The newly ordered sets for Brenner services will be 9-car-sets and for the moment are being called RailJet2.