CAF starts work on Stadtbahn-B replacement

The Rhein-Ruhr Stadtbahn is a light rail system serving Düsseldorf and the Ruhr conurbation cities of Duisburg, Mülheim, Essen, Bochum-Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund. 

 

When it was created in the 1970s a standard LRV was purchased from Duewag by all the participants; this was the Stadtbahn-B car with over 240 delivered in 1973-1999. Now the time has come to replace these older cars with new rolling stock, and Spanish builder CAF has entered the high-floor market to compete for orders, with success in the combined undertaking of Essen and Mülheim, Ruhrbahn. It is working jointly with German electrical equipment supplier Kiepe on an order for 51 LRVs, the first to be delivered before the end of 2024. 

 

These air-conditioned double-ended cars are 28m long and 2.65m wide with space for 173 passengers, and are costing EUR 150M. Because they will always run as twin-sets, each LRV has only one cab, so they will be coupled back-to-back. They will replace not only the old Stadtbahn-B cars but also the ex-London Docklands LRVs dating from 1986-89. 

 

The Stadtbahn-B was also delivered to the linked systems of Köln (Cologne) and Bonn, but each system has gone its own way in terms of replacement. Köln is taking delivery of the Alstom (ex-Bombardier) high-floor Flexity HF6, while Bonn has become another CAF customer by ordering 32 LRVs that will be similar to the Ruhrbahn fleet.