More Civities at Velim
posted on 14th Jul 2026 12:51
After the Class 480 unit for Renfe arrived at the VUZ Velim test centre on 22 April 2026, two more units from CAF appeared there on 5 June, this time for Germany. They are from an order for a total of 76 BEMUs for the Niederrhein-Münsterland-Netz, which includes electrified and non-electrified lines in North Rhine-Westphalia around the cities of Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund and others.
To provide vehicles for this group of services, the VRR (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr) and NWL (Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe) launched a tender in 2018, the winner of which was CAF with units from the Civities family in July 2021. These will be two-car trains in two lengths:
- 15 units of the Class 557.0 with a length of 44.9 m, with a Bo’2’Bo’ axle arrangement and 122 seats,
- 61 units of the Class 557.1 with a length of 55.48 m, with a Bo’2’ + 2’Bo’ axle arrangement and 160 seats.
The trains are manufactured at the Beasain works, the first one, 557 001, appeared in Germany in February this year, when it began testing on the Wegberg-Wildenrath circuit. The first unit of the Class 557.1 arrived there in May 2026, after which it is scheduled to begin testing on the DB InfraGO network in late summer. The first Civities were supposed to start operating in December 2025, but last July a delay in the project was announced and now the expected date is December 2027.
