The Austrian state railway company, ÖBB, has decided to modify its rolling stock contract with Siemens Mobility, officially halting the delivery of the backlog of new generation Nightjet night trains.
The operator justifies the change by the sharp increase in passenger demand and the urgent need to reinforce capacity on daytime services.
In the original order, ÖBB had ordered 20 Nightjet trains, with a subsequent expansion to 33 trainsets. However, only 24 units have been delivered and, according to industry sources, the remaining nine will not be received “for the time being”.
Instead, ÖBB has increased the order for reversible Railjet 2 compositions made with Siemens Viaggio Comfort carriages by 13 units, which will be added to the 27 already delivered. As a result, it will finally have 40 new trains of this type at its disposal. Of these, 12 will be nine carriages and 28 will be seven carriages with double running capacity.
The decision is in response to the record of more than 550 million passengers carried in 2024 and the higher profitability of daytime services compared to night services, which have higher operating expenses and lower occupancy. The “DaNi” framework contract with Siemens remains in place and would allow Nightjet orders to be taken up in the future.
Apart from the reversible trainsets, ÖBB has also purchased 14 Stadler KISS 200 trains for the Railjet service.