Rock Rail MDSB 2025+

Rock Rail’s second transaction in Germany was the financing of the new rolling stock for the new MDSB 2025+ Leipzig S-Bahn fleet. Rock was awarded the financing for both lots by DB Regio (Lot 1) and Die Länderbahn (Lot 2). The fleet comprises of 18 4-car (Lot 1) and 41 3-car (Lot 2) Siemens Mireo EMU and will enter service in December 2026. Due to more doors and wider spaces than the incumbent fleet, the new MDSB 2025+ trains will enhance the passenger flow and increase the operational stability on the busiest sections in the Leipzig City Tunnel.

The twin transaction is the first of the new German Rolling Stock platform established by Rock Rail and Infracapital. MEAG acted once again as the exclusive arranger for the entire senior debt financing, following Rock Rail Main-Weser.

-25%
Energy Consumption
195
New Vehicles
2026
Delivery

Benefits

The overall MDSB 2025+ Leipzig S-Bahn fleet will deliver a step-change in passenger experience and uplift to capacity, which will help support Germany’s growing demand for rail travel and transition away from other, less environmentally friendly modes of transport. The design has been specified to deliver all operational requirements of the network including features that support safe operation through the Leipzig City Tunnel.

Features and benefits include:

  • Up to 25% less energy consumption compared to similar trains on the market
  • 150 seats in the 3-car and 200 seats in the 4-car trains
  • Separate 1st class compartment with leather seats
  • More doors and free spaces to facilitate passenger flow
  • Passenger WiFi and window panes with enhanced mobile phone transmission
  • Standard and USB plug sockets; wireless smartphone chargers in the tables
  • Adaptions for safe operation in tunnels
  • TSI PRM compliant access for all platform heights
  • Acoustic and visual passenger information systems
Press Release
Rock Rail has been working in Germany since 2018 and has strong relationships with all the German regional public authorities, operators and manufacturers. We are delighted to have worked on our third deal in Germany with Infracapital and MEAG to lease Siemens Mireo trains to DB Regio and Die Länderbahn in the beautiful city of Leipzig. This specific opportunity has been 2 years in development and is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of Rock as well as the City of Leipzig. We will continue to work very hard with our operator partners to fund more fleets in Germany with Infracapital over the next few years.
Mark Swindell
CEO
Rock Rail
This partnership with Rock Rail will support Infracapital’s mission to invest in infrastructure assets which are key to Europe’s sustainable future. Germany’s liberalised rolling stock market sits at an exciting crossroad as the country seeks to double passenger rail numbers by 2030. We see a strong pipeline in the years ahead as government agendas in the UK and Europe are increasingly focused on delivering improved and cleaner public transport systems for a growing passenger base. We look forward to working with Rock Rail and other stakeholders to drive further growth in the years ahead.
Priya Veerapen
Managing Director
Infracapital
We are very pleased to support Rock Rail and Infracapital by arranging the senior debt financing for the fleet of Siemens Mireo trains to be deployed on the MDSB2025+ network. This underpins our ambition to substantially contribute to the modernisation of sustainable public transport in Germany. The technically advanced features of the new fleet will allow state-of-the-art passenger experience, increased capacity and an improved environmental footprint.
Benjamin Hemming
Head of Illiquid Assets Debt
MEAG

Rock Rail Main-Weser

In it’s first German investment, Rock Rail won the competition to finance a fleet of new Alstom Coradia Max (formerly Stream HC) double-deck trains for DB Regio to operate on the Main-Weser network in Germany. DB Regio was awarded the transport contract by Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund GmbH (RMV). Rock partnered with abrdn for the fifth time as equity provider, while MEAG acted as exclusive arranger for the entire senior debt financing.

The fleet comprises of 13 four-car and 4 five-car units with two single-deck and two or three double-deck cars each. They will enter the service in December 2024.

+15%
Capacity
72
New Vehicles
2024
Delivery

Benefits

Based on Alstom’s successful Coradia platform, the new trains will connect Frankfurt and Kassel, the largest and third-largest city of the German State of Hesse.

Features and benefits include:

  • 15% seat capacity increase compared to the incumbent fleet
  • Better energy efficiency
  • Improved acceleration and breaking
  • Passenger WiFi
  • Space for up to 30 bikes
  • Gap bridging
  • Uniform boarding height
  • Acoustic and visual passenger information systems
  • PRM-compliant lavatories
  • Full compliance with TSI PRM
Press Release
Winning and closing Main-Weser is a very significant milestone for Rock Rail, it represents over 3 years of development work from Rock Rail and abrdn culminating in opening up the German market to institutional led finance. Competitive institutional finance can be delivered to meet the need to finance new fleets to the German market and provide added value to municipal clients and Operators like Deutsche Bahn.
Mark Swindell
CEO
Rock Rail