Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (ODEG) has ordered 23 Desiro HC regional trains from Siemens for service on the Elbe-Spree network. The order is worth around €300 million. Delivery of the 21 six-car and two four-car trains is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2022. In January 2019, ODEG was awarded the contract to operate these lines following a Europe-wide tender by Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB).
The Desiro trainsets will be used on the regional express line RE1 (lot 1) connecting Magdeburg with Cottbus via Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder). During rush hours, trains will operate three times an hour between Brandenburg a. d. Havel and Frankfurt (Oder). The four-car Desiros are planned for service on the RE8 line connecting Wismar and Wittenberge with Baruth and Elsterwerda/Finsterwalde via Berlin, as well as on the RB17 line connecting Wismar and Ludwigslust.
The trains have generous space available for bicycles, strollers and wheelchairs and a multipurpose car with a barrier-free WC. Sliding steps enable barrier-free access at stations with 550 mm and 760 mm platform heights. Wider doors than in older trains speed and ease passenger boarding and exiting. Free WLAN on board enhances passenger convenience. A passenger safety system provides live camera coverage of activities in the cars. In case of a conflict or problem, supervisors at the operations control center can communicate directly with the car via loudspeakers. The cars are equipped inside and outside with real-time capacity displays, and this information can also be accessed via the VBB app.
On September 26, 2017 Siemens and Alstom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combine Siemens' mobility business, including its rail traction drives business, with Alstom. The transaction brings together two innovative players of the railway market with unique customer value and operational potential. The two businesses are largely complementary in terms of activities and geographies. Siemens will receive newly issued shares in the combined company representing 50 percent of Alstom's share capital on a fully diluted basis.On February 6, 2019 the European Commission has announced its decision to prohibit the proposed combination of the Siemens and Alstom mobility businesses. As a result of this prohibition, the merger will not proceed. Siemens and Alstom regret that the remedies they offered, including recent improvements, have been considered insufficient by the EU Commission.
The Siemens Zug campus features a new office building with 1,000 work spaces and a newly constructed production building. The Siemens Zug campus is one of the first new projects to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) for design and construction. The campus complex is equipped with building automation, security and fire safety technology from Siemens BT and particular emphasis was placed on sustainability and energy efficiency of the buildings.
The Fund for the Future that Siemens and the company’s Central Works Council agreed to establish in May 2018 is now available to finance qualification projects in Germany. Until the end of fiscal 2022, Siemens will provide up to €100 million for such projects, in addition to the company’s regular annual budget of around €500 million for training and continuing education, thereof €290 million in Germany. The Fund for the Future is a key element with which Siemens and the Central Works Council are shaping the structural transformation of today’s economy – a transformation that is changing the working world to an unimaginable degree. Siemens, the company's Central Works Council and the IG Metall labor union agreed on a Future Pact in May 2018. This pact, which includes the Fund for the Future, established the main framework for addressing the structural transformation now taking place in Germany.
Additive manufacturing has the potential to become a new key technology. For example it opens up new attractive prospects in the manufacture of gas turbines. This is why Siemens has been investing in this innovative technology right from its inception, and is now driving the industrialization and commercialization of these processes. Additive Manufacturing is a process that builds parts layer-by-layer from sliced CAD models to form solid objects. This enables highly precise solutions to be formed from powdered high-performance materials. Siemens is a pioneer in Additive Manufacturing and already uses the technology for rapid prototyping. Furthermore the company is now developing solutions ready for series-production for manufacturing gas turbine burner nozzles and repairing burner heads. Just recently Siemens achieved yet another breakthrough: the first gas turbine blades ever to be produced using Additive Manufacturing have successfully finished performance testing under full-load conditions.
South-west Germany is counting on Siemens: from 2020 onward, DB Regio AG will be operating its Rhine Valley rail network exclusively with new trains from Siemens. The German Railways order covers 15 Desiro HC and 24 Mireo trains in total, and goes hand in hand with a restructuring of the rail transport services in the Rhine Valley. There is a clear separation between a rapid train system for fast cross-regional services and a regional suburban rail system (S-Bahn) with stops at all stations. The Mireo will be deployed as a regional train (RB) service along the line section from Offenburg via Freiburg to Basel/Neuenburg (Switzerland) as well as in the Kaiserstuhl area on Sundays between Freiburg and Endingen/Breisach. The line section from Karlsruhe via Offenburg and Freiburg to Basel (Switzerland) will be operated with the Desiro HC as a regional express service.
Siemens Mobility, Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Siemens AG, is a leading international provider of intelligent mobility solutions that offer guaranteed availability, optimized capacity and enhanced passenger experience. The company’s business includes rail rolling stock, rail automation, intelligent traffic systems, traffic telematics systems as well as rail electrification. The portfolio also covers turnkey mobility projects and tailored financing solutions.
Siemens Mobility, Inc. draws on more than 160 years of expertise and experience in transportation. The company combines innovations with comprehensive industry know-how, a global network of recognized experts in over 40 countries, and the solid financial base of Siemens AG.
On March 2nd, 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser and further high-ranking representatives witnessed the symbolic inauguration of the first phase of Siemens' megaproject in Egypt. The event marked an important milestone towards the completion of the project.
In collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Siemens and its consortium partners, Orascom Construction and Elsewedy Electric, announced on July 24, 2018 the completion of the Egypt Megaproject in record time. The parties celebrated the combined cycle commissioning and the start of operations at the Beni Suef, Burullus and New Capital power plants. The stations will add a total of 14.4 gigawatts (GW) of power generation capacity to Egypt's national grid, enough power to supply up to 40 million people with reliable electricity. With this milestone, Egypt and Siemens have set a new world record for execution of modern, fast-track power projects, delivering 14.4 GW of power in only 27.5 months. A single combined cycle power plant block with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts typically takes approximately 30 months for construction. For the Egypt Megaproject Siemens in parallel built twelve of these blocks in record time and connected them to the grid.
Following the delivery of several Siemens SGT5-8000H gas turbines, the first steam turbine for the Egypt Megaproject began its journey in December 2016 from the Siemens factory in Muelheim to the power plant Beni Suef in Egypt. The main components of the 670-ton cargo were lifted with a heavy-duty crane from the production hall onto a transport vessel standing by at the plant's inland harbor facilities. The vessel transported the SST-5000 steam turbine from Muelheim to the deep-water port of Antwerp where it was loaded onto a heavy cargo ship and transported to Egypt.
After the steam turbines installation, the waste heat from the gas turbines will be used to produce steam that will then drive the steam turbine, thus increasing the overall power output and efficiency of the power plant. In total, Siemens will deliver twelve SST-5000 steam turbines for the Egyptian power plants Beni Suef, Burullus and New Capital. All of these steam turbines will be manufactured at the Siemens factory in Muelheim.
Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE), a full-service locomotive leasing company, has ordered 136 Vectron type locomotives from Siemens in total. MRCE therefore owns one of the biggest Vectron fleets. In March 2018 Siemens and MRCE have agreed to found a joint venture for the maintenance of locomotives. Together, the companies will not only maintain the MRCE fleet, but also reliably service and guarantee the maximum availability of third-party fleets with their innovative maintenance technologies. Both partners are jointly investing in the joint venture, primarily to build a new workshop for locomotives. The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for the current calendar year. The new workshop is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019.