MUNICH/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Bahn is ordering more than 3,300 new buses for the next few years. The main supplier will be Munich-based manufacturer MAN, which will provide the majority of the order. "A smaller fleet of electric intercity buses will be supplied by Chinese manufacturer BYD from its production facility in Hungary," Deutsche Bahn announced. According to the announcement, this will involve just under 200 vehicles.

According to Deutsche Bahn, the buses will cost more than one billion euros. The framework agreements have a term of six years. The buses are to be delivered between 2027 and 2032. MAN belongs to the VW commercial vehicle holding company Traton.

Largest order in MAN's history

This is the largest bus order in the history of both Deutsche Bahn's regional transport division and its main supplier MAN. "The new framework agreement with Deutsche Bahn is a historic procurement order," says MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp. "The fact that a significant proportion of the vehicles will be fully electric impressively underlines the contribution that Deutsche Bahn and MAN are making to the sustainable transformation of public transport." However, the package also includes combustion engines and hybrid models.

"The long-term contracts guarantee that we will always have modern vehicles and can continue to develop them in close cooperation with the manufacturers," said the new DB Regio CEO Harmen van Zijderveld.

According to DB, all buses offer USB ports at the seats so that passengers can charge their cell phones and smartphones while on the move. Specially upholstered seats are designed to ensure comfort on cross-country journeys. In addition, all new solo and articulated buses are air-conditioned, and the electric buses are equipped with air conditioning systems that use a climate-neutral refrigerant and do not require additional fossil fuel heating. For road safety, all new buses are equipped with LED headlights, turn assist, and rearview cameras, among other features.

MAN has supplied buses to Deutsche Bahn on numerous occasions

With around 561 million passengers in 2024, DB Regio is the largest provider of bus transport in Germany. Every day, an average of 1.5 million people in Germany travel on DB Regio buses.

MAN has already supplied Deutsche Bahn with many buses in the past – according to the company, almost 5,000 for urban and interurban transport over the past 15 years. Deutsche Bahn's regional transport subsidiary, DB Regio, operates numerous buses throughout Germany.

In recent days, fueled by media reports, there has been speculation about a much larger delivery from Chinese manufacturer BYD. Der Spiegel reported around 700 BYD vehicles, but Deutsche Bahn denied this figure. According to the Spiegel report, DB Regio ordered electric buses from BYD for the first time in 2021./DP/zb