“With
the new depot for Siemens, an underfloor lathe, and the existing SWEG workshop,
SWEG has created a comprehensive service center for rail vehicles here in
Offenburg in just five years that is unique in southern Germany in terms of
possibilities and modernity,” explained SWEG CEO Tobias Harms. “There’s nothing
to remind one of the historic rail depot that once stood here. With this new
facility, Offenburg is truly a railway city again.” He
added: “The renewed contract to run the Ortenau S-Bahn operations for another
15 years is further proof of the highly successful development of SWEG into one
of the most important mobility groups in the state. I’m especially pleased that
we can continue offering our passengers the usual high SWEG quality.”
The
new workshop is located near the Offenburg train station in the city’s
northeast. Covering an area of 1,350 m2,
the depot includes two pit tracks, roof work stands, and a full-length gantry
crane. Two outbuildings, 350 m2 and 200 m2 in area, provide
space for storage, offices, and social facilities. It was also agreed that Siemens
Mobility can use the onsite SWEG infrastructure, such as the outdoor car wash.
The depot warehouse can rely on a minimum of stock since Siemens Mobility uses
its MoBase e-commerce platform for managing spare parts. With it, required parts can be delivered on demand within 24 hours. Condition-based,
predictive maintenance of the trains is made possible by using the cloud-based Siemens Mobility application
suite Railigent X. Thanks to its advanced algorithms and data analytics,
possible faults are detected before they lead to failures.
In
2020, the Baden-Württemberg State Authority for Rail Vehicles (SFBW) ordered 27
two-car, 120-seat Mireo Plus B battery-powered trains from Siemens Mobility. With
their battery hybrid drive, the trains can operate on electrified as well as
non-electrified routes. Running on batteries, the Mireo Plus B has a range of
around 80 kilometers under real conditions
As of mid-December 2023, Network 8 (“Ortenau”) will
include the following routes: Offenburg – Freudenstadt/Hornberg, Offenburg –
Bad Griesbach, Offenburg – Achern, Achern – Ottenhöfen, and Biberach (Baden) –
Oberharmersbach-Riersbach. The reactivated Hermann Hesse railway between Calw and
Renningen is expected to join the network in 2025. Network services currently
total around two-and-a-half million train kilometers a year.
