28.05.09
Steiermark: a region of success for Stadler
The federal state of Steiermark has brought success for Stadler Rail once again: following orders from Grazer Verkehrsbetriebe and Graz-Köflacher-Bahn, now Steiermärkischen Landesbahnen (STLB) has ordered trains from Stadler Rail. STLB gave Stadler Rail the order for six GTW articulated power units on 28 May. The vehicles will be delivered from October 2010 are operate on the rapid transit system in the Graz conurbation. The order is worth around EURO 21 million. Three of the trains will be diesel-electric powered and three electrically powered by 15 KV alternating current.
Standardised vehicle fleet
The rapid transit system in Graz was launched at the end of 2007. Part of the network is operated by STLB. Since the start-up phase, STLB has used rented power units as well as its old trains. As these must be returned at the end of 2010, however, STLB issued a tender invitation across the whole of Europe. Now three electric GTWs (EMU) have been ordered from Stadler Rail for the S 11 Übelbach – Peggau – Graz line. The order also includes three diesel-electric GTWs (DMU). These will be used primarily on the Weiz – Gleisdorf – Graz line. The six GTWs are two-part and can be operated under multiple control. The EMUs differ from the DMUs only in the power plant and heating. “The large number of common parts also provides many synergies in the servicing and maintenance of the vehicles,” said Dr Helmut Wittmann, the managing director of STLB.
The trains for the STLB are a further development of the fourth generation of the GTW, which has been in service for Arriva in Holland since 2006. Peter Jenelten, Executive Vice President Marketing and Sales of Stadler Rail, is delighted by this latest success: “This is the fourth order from Austria in a little more than a year and we hope that we will be able to celebrate further successes in our eastern neighbour in the near future.” Stadler has now sold 470 GTWs in 10 countries.
Modern, comfortable vehicles
With the GTWs, STLB has decided on a well-proven vehicle from the Stadler stable. The trains are air-conditioned, have a handicapped-friendly, closed WC system and a low-floor area of more than 75%. The light, airy passenger compartments with large windows provide 93 seats and 8 folding seats in each train. Up to four trains can travel together under multiple control. The vehicles will be manufactured in a light aluminium construction and are therefore low weight. This allows higher acceleration speeds and a considerable reduction in operating costs.
Steiermärkischen Landesbahnen is a transport company belonging to the state of Steiermark. STLB operates a total of six lines, including the standard gauge Gleisdorf – Weiz, Peggau – Übelbach and Feldbach – Bad Gleichenberg lines and the 760 mm narrow gauge Unzmarkt – Tamsweg und Weiz – Oberfeistritz lines. The STLB lines have a total length of around 150 km. STLB is also the operator of the Graz Süd/Werndorf goods terminus. In conjunction with its subsidiary, Steiermarkbahn Transport und Logistik GmbH, STLB also provides logistical services, including whole train operation, track construction and maintenance and marshalling activities for the whole of the Austrian railway network. STLB currently employs more than 230 people. For its transport operations, STLB has 35 locomotives and power units, 35 passenger carriages and more than 300 goods wagons.
Stadler Rail Group, the provider of customised system solutions for railed vehicle construction, has sites in Switzerland at Altenrhein, Bussnang and Winterthur, in Germany at Berlin-Pankow and Velten, in Poland at Siedlce, in Hungary at Budapest, Pusztascabolcz and Szolnok and in Algeria at Algiers. The group employs more than 2,400 men and women. The best-known families of vehicles produced by the Stadler Rail Group are the GTW articulated power units with 470 trains sold, the Regio Shuttle RS1 with 402 trains sold, the FLIRT with 515 trains sold and the DOSTO double-deck rapid transit trains, of which 50 have been sold in the railway segment and the Variobahn, with sales of 255 vehicles and the newly developed Tango, with 90 vehicles sold in the tramway segment. Stadler also produces carriages and diesel-electric locomotives and is the world’s leading producer of rack-and-pinion railway vehicles.
For further details please contact:
Stadler Rail Group
Tim Büchele, Media spokesman
Telephone: ++41 (0) 71 / 626 31 57
Mobile: ++41 (0) 79 / 765 49 31
tim.buechele@stadlerrail.ch
Steiermärkische Landesbahnen
Mag. Mirjam Tauber
Press spokeswoman
Tel. ++43 (0) 316 /812581-13
mirjam.tauber@stlb.at