GERMANY: Following a European tender, transport authorities go.Rheinland and VRR have selected incumbent DB Regio for a contract to operate Köln S-Bahn services until December 2032. The contract is backdated to December 10 2023 and will see operations increase from 12·3 million to 14·2 million train-km/year. However, procurement is underway for new trainsets to arrive by the end of the decade, which would be owned by the transport authorities and made available to the operator.