Link Securities| The Spanish industrial company CAF (CAF) announced on Friday that it has been awarded a new project in the Netherlands. The public transport operator Qbuzz, part of the FS Group, has chosen CAF to supply 10 commuter trains and their corresponding fleet parts, which are scheduled for delivery from 2028 onwards. Qbuzz is a public transport company in the Netherlands serving the Groningen-Drenthe region, the city of Utrecht and the area between Utrecht and Rotterdam. Founded in 2008, it operates bus lines, trams and trains, carrying around 350,000 passengers every day.
The trains chosen by Qbuzz belong to the Civity platform and will be equipped with CAF’s ETCS (European Train Control System) signalling system. They will be energy-efficient units designed to run at a speed of 160 km/h. Each train will be made up of 3 cars and will have a capacity for around 350 passengers along its almost 60 metre length, and will also have spaces for people with reduced mobility and areas for transporting bicycles. This investment is part of the plans being carried out by the province of South Holland to operate lines with ERTMS signalling system, improve public transport and make it more sustainable.
The new units will be used on the line between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen (the “MerwedeLinge line”), the concession for which was awarded by the South Holland Provincial Authority to operator Qbuzz in 2018. Qbuzz’s objective with the acquisition of this new fleet is to replace the units currently serving the line that do not have the advanced ERTMS signalling system, which is scheduled to be implemented on part of the line by 2027.
