Catch them before they're gone

[Gag Halfrunt]

Malaysia also has electric versions of the Irish Rail Class 22000 trains. They were built by Hyundai Rotem and are almost identical except for being electric instead of diesel. I think they are called KTM Class 91 trains.

Besides being metre gauge, they are narrower than the Class 22000 (2.75m wide instead of 2.84m).

KTM Class 91 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[peteb]

Deutsch Bahn Intercity IC2310 Köln to Westerland (Sylt).

A couple of queries:
1.
I'm hoping to cover this in the next week or so. It's a long "haul" from Köln with no buffet car. Is there anywhere on the station at Itzehoe to grab a coffee and/or a takeaway beer and some food? It's shown as 20 minutes for the loco change.
2.
Does the 14 minute wait at Niebull indicate attachment of car transporters?

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[43096]

Deutsch Bahn Intercity IC2310 Köln to Westerland (Sylt).

A couple of queries:
1.
I'm hoping to cover this in the next week or so. It's a long "haul" from Köln with no buffet car. Is there anywhere on the station at Itzehoe to grab a coffee and/or a takeaway beer and some food? It's shown as 20 minutes for the loco change.

Yes - there is at least a coffee shop at Itzehoe.

2.
Does the 14 minute wait at Niebull indicate attachment of car transporters?

No - car transporters run as a separate service group. I would think the time is the allowance previously used to detach the Dagebüll Mole portion.

 

[peteb]

Yes - there is at least a coffee shop at Itzehoe.

No - car transporters run as a separate service group. I would think the time is the allowance previously used to detach the Dagebüll Mole portion.

Great, thanks, at least there's the opportunity for two leg stretches on this rather long journey. Mind you I'm doing EC7 the next day!!!

 

[Richard Scott]

No - car transporters run as a separate service group. I would think the time is the allowance previously used to detach the Dagebüll Mole portion.

May also be a pathing stop as some single line sections before the dam?

 

[43096]

May also be a pathing stop as some single line sections before the dam?

Also true.

 

[nwales58]

Staying with Germany, loco-hauled stock are currently operating the RE200 between Ulm and Wendlingen... until the arrival of new Alstom Coradia Stream HCs alongside the integration of the RE200 into the RE1 upon completion of Stuttgart 21.

Which could still be a while ...

Now Hitachi, too, can be blamed for delays in the signalling implementation. Here is a Deutsche Welle article in English:

'Stuttgart 21' high-speed rail opening delayed once more – DW – 11/19/2025

Conceived more than 30 years ago, Stuttgart's new high-speed rail connection and station project is billions over budget and years behind schedule. The latest planned opening date, December 2026, is now off the table.

www.dw.com

The deadline risks have intensified to an extent that was not previously foreseeable and are now being evaluated with the Supervisory Board.

Blaming the japanese seems unfair, I assume this is the ex-Ansaldo, italian, business who had such fantastic problems with the Manchester South resignalling 20 years ago that we still have manual boxes at Stockport.

 

[MarcVD]

If nothing changes at the last minute, the next two weeks should be the last ones for belgian M4 cars and series 21 and 27 locomotives. Not yet 100 % sure but probability is very high.

 

[peteb]

For anyone interested who might be covering EC6,7,8,9 this week, the IC 60409 1959 Zurich to Leipzig via Basel, Mannheim etc has tonight as its last vehicle, a declassified 1st class SBB observation car! Not that you can see much!!

 

[AY1975]

The TER 200 between Basel and Strasbourg show no sign of disappearance

There are still slows between Paris Austerlitz/Bercy and the centre region but they will probably be displaced soon.

The Paris-Clermont Ferrand and Paris-Limoges Corail have at least 2 years left as the CAF Oxygène trains ordered to replace them are delayed until 2027

Plus Bordeaux to Marseille which will be loco-hauled for a couple of years yet.

Is there any Corail stock (and are there many loco-hauled trains in general) left in Portugal or Morocco?

IIRC Portuguese Corail stock was built for CP, albeit closely modelled on SNCF Corail stock, whereas that in Morocco is (or was) ex-SNCF.

 

[Richard Scott]

Is there any Corail stock (and are there many loco-hauled trains in general) left in Portugal or Morocco?

IIRC Portuguese Corail stock was built for CP, albeit closely modelled on SNCF Corail stock, whereas that in Morocco is (or was) ex-SNCF.

Still plenty in Portugal, hauled by 5600 locos on Lisbon to Faro or Lisbon to Porto runs.
All long distance loco hauled trains were Corail in Morocco when I was there in 2022, don't think that's changed.

 

[LUYMun]

Some more German loco-hauled swaps to take place from Thursday 15th January when Hannover's S4 S-Bahn route will have TRI-hired stock between Hannover and Bennemühlen in lieu of FLIRT EMUs. n-Wagen and double-deck stock slated for use. Arranagements expected until 1st February:

Zusätzliche Züge ab 15. Januar auf der S-Bahnlinie S4 im Einsatz - Aktuelle Meldungen - S-Bahn Hannover

www.sbahn-hannover.de

Additional trains in service on the S4 S-Bahn line from 15 January​

Published: 12 January 2026
In order to ease the currently limited vehicle availability and provide our passengers with a reliable service, we will implement another replacement concept on the S4 S-Bahn line from 15 January 2026.
From 15 January, TRI Train Rental GmbH (TRI) will provide services on the S4 line on behalf of the Hanover S-Bahn.
15 January to 18 January 2026

• From 15 January, the S4 will again run hourly between Bennemühlen - Hannover Hbf and Hannover Hbf - Bennemühlen.
• In the morning, a rail replacement service (SEV) will be set up at the same time during peak hours in the direction of Hanover Hbf.
• In the afternoon, an SEV will also be used at peak times in the direction of Bennemühlen.
• During this period, modernized n-cars of the TRI will be used.

19 January to 1 February 2026

• The S4 will again run according to the regular timetable every 30 minutes between Bennemühlen and Hanover Hbf.
• During this time, modernised n-coaches and modern barrier-free double-decker coaches will be used.
• The route remains divided: => Bennemühlen – Hannover Hbf: TRI trains are used. => Hannover Hbf – Hildesheim Hbf: Trains of the Hanover S-Bahn are used. In Hanover Hbf, it is possible to change trains on the same platform between the divided branches of line S4. This is subject to trouble-free operation.

 

[SLTRegular]

The V Sets in Nsw Australia have about 11 days left in Service currently confined to Blue Mountains line only. Being replaced by cheap nasty Korean trains. Not a popular move locally.

 

[Richard Scott]

The V Sets in Nsw Australia have about 11 days left in Service currently confined to Blue Mountains line only. Being replaced by cheap nasty Korean trains. Not a popular move locally.

Shame, will miss another ride on those by a couple of months.

 

[CarrotPie]

I know 3201-3206, 3208, 3209 & 3211 are all out of traffic so that leaves 5 others if 14 are now out of traffic, do you know the identities of the others please?

AFAIK (and according to Resiina magazine) it's just those and 3214 that have been sent for cannibalisation at the moment. 3207 and 3210 have been seen in service last week and last month respectively.

On another note, the Sm2 fleet has recently been trying to speed up its own demise; earlier in January, 9 out of the 36 remaining units failed in one morning, but almost of them were fixed within a fortnight. However, with the first Sm7s running in multiple last week, there isn't much time left for the Sm2s anymore, especially on the more rural lines (G, M, O).

As already mentioned, they're still trying to kill the Sr1s, but they still keep refusing to die. They still run the Iisalmi-Ylivieska line with the last Eil/Eilf carriages (although this line will likely be taken over by Sm4s in a few years) and they also continue to make appearances on night trains every now and then, especially in the winter season. However, in recent months, Sr3s have taken over more and more night trains, which is a shame, because their ride quality is a lot worse than the Sr1s. Thankfully, the old blue CEmt sleeper carriages will be around for a while longer, because there are (currently) no replacements on order.

I would jokingly add that it's a case of "catch them before they're gone" for the Dm12 railcars, too (although nobody likes riding them), but there are no replacements lined up - they just keep catching fire and being left to rot in Pieksämäki depot (which is where you can find a lot of the withdrawn Sr1s, Sr2s, etc.)!

 

[SLTRegular]

48 hours exactly left of V Sets V10/25 are the confirmed units for the last service one has been repainted to Blue and White livery.

 

[rmHawk765]

Plus Bordeaux to Marseille which will be loco-hauled for a couple of years yet.

Any idea what happened to the short-lived Marseille-Nice services operated with Corail coaches? I had the chance to ride on one of these, but I visited again and they appeared to all be gone, replaced by Regio2N or the other EMU they use down south (forgot its class number).

 

[signed]

Any idea what happened to the short-lived Marseille-Nice services operated with Corail coaches? I had the chance to ride on one of these, but I visited again and they appeared to all be gone, replaced by Regio2N or the other EMU they use down south (forgot its class number).

Transdev has taken over the tender service for that part of the region's TER

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Today is the last day you'll see a Comeng or Siemens train on the Sunbury Line.

In the coming months you wont even see a Comeng train on the Werribee/Williamstown Line and Sandringham line.

 

[SLTRegular]

Today is the last day you'll see a Comeng or Siemens train on the Sunbury Line.

In the coming months you wont even see a Comeng train on the Werribee/Williamstown Line and Sandringham line.

Melbourne is becoming less and less interesting as the years pass

 

[LUYMun]

The contract for the Munich-Schwandorf-Plzen-Prague Regional route has been awarded to Leo Express which commences from the end of this year, 13 December, with ex-DB Intercity coaching stock. The current rolling stock of ex-German (which have dropdown windows) and ex-Italian compos, which are coupled to Czech coaches, operated by ALEX (Die Landesbahn Express) looks to have a bleak future after this.

Bold for correction. See link below for news.

 

[NCT]

Interesting ... !

Will it be Talgo rolling stock?

 

[Austriantrain]

I am not sure if it was mentioned before:

The remaining class 4020 sets in and around Vienna will likely be gone by the end of the year, maybe even by summer.

 

[rvdborgt]

Will it be Talgo rolling stock?

That's not the same as ex-Renfe Intercity coaching stock.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

The contract for the Munich-Schwandorf-Plzen-Prague Regional route has been awarded to Leo Express which commences from the end of this year, 13 December, with ex-Renfe Intercity coaching stock. The current rolling stock of ex-German (which have dropdown windows) and ex-Italian compos, which are coupled to Czech coaches, operated by ALEX (Die Landesbahn Express) looks to have a bleak future after this.

The tender award is only for the Czech portion. The German portion is still operated by Alex Die Länderbahn until at least 12/2028. Only after that the German interim contract until 12/2031 starts, which has the same end date as the tender that Leo Express now got. So probably Alex coaches continue to run, but then mixed with Leo Express coaches and not ČD ones

 

[superalbs]

Interesting ... !

Will it be Talgo rolling stock?

It will be former DB or NS carriages.

 

[LUYMun]

It will be former DB or NS carriages.

That's not according to their press release (see bold): https://www.leoexpress.com/en/about-us/for-media/leo-express-won-the-tender-ex36

Leo Express has won the tender Ex36 by the Czech Ministry of Transport for the line Prague – Pilsen – Regensburg – Munich​

Prague, March 24, 2026
Leo Express trains will be operated on the line Prague, Pilsen, Holýšov, Domažlice, Furth im Wald, Schwandorf, Regensburg, Landshut, Freising and Munich from 13 December 2026. The operator plans to offer international tickets starting from EUR 9.

“The Prague – Pilsen – Regensburg – Munich connection deserves to be resuscitated after years of customer dissatisfaction, and we are honoured to assist the Czech Ministry of Transport in this important international project. We will introduce popular Leo Express services to this route and at the same time offer through connections via Prague towards Warsaw, Krakow, Przemyśl, Prešov or Bratislava. Our services will also include modern and efficient catering services in a fully air-conditioned 200km/h train with Wi-Fi, electric sockets, racks for bicycles and wheelchair and pram places,” says Peter Köhler, CEO of Leo Express.

On the 439-kilometre-long Prague – Munich route, Leo Express will dispatch a total of 8 connections a day in a two-hour frequency from December 2026. Leo Express offered the lowest price of CZK 427 million for 5 years without infrastructure access charges. Modernized Intercity coaches, made available through its strategic partnership with Renfe, with a maximum speed of 200 km per hour, air conditioning, Wi-Fi and an audiovisual system, which will be pulled by a multi-system locomotive, will be deployed on the route.

In addition to the Leo Express tariff, the SJT/One ticket ministerial tariff will also apply on the line. Leo Express will strive to maintain ticket sales for these connections also through the ČD network. It will also be possible to use the integrated tariffs of the Pilsen Region on the trains, as well as InterRail, Eurail and CIV international tickets.
Snacks and a selection of hot and cold drinks, including beer, will be available. There will also be places on the train for people with reduced mobility and the transport of bicycles.

The connection, which continues to Munich after crossing the border, is operated in cooperation with a German carrier that is contracted with the state of Bavaria.

 

[43096]

That's not according to their press release (see bold): https://www.leoexpress.com/en/about-us/for-media/leo-express-won-the-tender-ex36

But where have Renfe got the coaches from? Because Spanish stock is the wrong gauge.

 

[superalbs]

That's not according to their press release (see bold): https://www.leoexpress.com/en/about-us/for-media/leo-express-won-the-tender-ex36

The information given here does not conflict with what I said, Renfe could be responsible for funding the acquisition of the stock. Remember, they acquired 72x carriages formerly with NS and 50x carriages formerly with DB.

Talgo carriages would be incompatible with the cross-border operation, due to the need to work with the Alex carriages on the other side of the border (unless this operation is to be changed).

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

But where have Renfe got the coaches from? Because Spanish stock is the wrong gauge.

RENFE coaches could be converted to standard gauge if the price is right. Going in the other direction, @Giugiaro said a few years ago that CP were interested in buying surplus Corail driving cars from SNCF.

IIRC, in the 1980s RENFE sold some surplus sleeping cars to Iran, which is a standard gauge country.