Premiere: battery-powered trains run between Leipzig and Chemnitz

With a delay of around two years, a battery-powered train will be running on the Leipzig-Chemnitz route for the first time next week. The Alstom Coradia Continental train will depart from Chemnitz main station at 5.31 a.m., according to the Central Saxony Transport Association. It runs in double traction - two trains coupled together - and thus offers 300 seats. In the coming months, the previous double-decker trains are to be completely replaced by the modern battery-powered trains on the route, it said. According to the VMS, this will be the first time ever that battery-powered trains will start regular timetable operations in Saxony.