Rolling stock calibration
A composition is the train itself: how many coaches of which types, what locomotive pulls them, how many places of each class it offers. It determines the train's weight and length, which drive energy and parts of the track access charge, and its purchase price, which drives write-off and financing.
How coach prices were built
The calibration builds a cost per metre of vehicle, separately for new-build and refurbished families, and applies it to the actual vehicle length. Sleeping cars, couchettes, seated coaches and catering vehicles each carry their own fit-out cost on top.
Purchase prices stay at the 2026 contract basis and are deliberately not escalated: rolling stock for a 2032 network is bought now, and the write-off and financing run off the contract price — carrying it to 2032 as well would count inflation twice. The recurring rates on this page (pay, lease) are 2032 money like every other cost in the tool; see price basis for the rule and its exceptions, and data sources for the sources.
Where the prices come from
There is no network statement for rolling stock. Vehicle prices are commercial, so the calibration triangulates from what is on the public record: audited accounts and annual reports (ÖBB, Italo, ELL, RDC), procurement awards and orders (Trafikverket's night train tender, Norske tog's FLIRT Nordic Express, the Caledonian Sleeper Mk5 order, Trenitalia's Intercity Notte framework, ÖBB's Nightjet orders), studies (the UIC Night Trains 2.0 study, Ramboll's Nachtzugstudie for the BMDV, Steer and KCW for DG MOVE), and trade press where a contract value was reported but never published.
Crew pay is built the same way, from collective agreements where they exist (DB with EVG, SJ's Seko scale) and from salary aggregators where they do not. Escalation to 2032 uses the ECB's Eurosystem staff projections.
Every one of these is listed, with a link where a public one exists, under rolling stock and operating costs.
The selected composition on a route
The Train operation tab shows the composition a proposal's figures were computed with and, below it, what one trip costs to run, in three receipts: the rakes and their upkeep, the locomotive hours, and the people on board. Fleet euros are annual breakdown leaves divided by the year's departures; locomotive and staff euros are per single trip, because the two directions differ in running time and in where the duty boundaries fall.
Comparing compositions on one route
Every composition in the catalogue is evaluated on the route under the selected scenario — so the figures in the comparison table are comparable with each other and with nothing else. Trainsets come first: it is the first thing that changes when the schedule does. The two density columns are metres and tonnes per place, the physical price of comfort; they replace the catalogue's indicative unit costs, which said the same thing about every route.
Class allocation
Some costs belong to the whole train rather than to one class of accommodation: the locomotive, the track access charge, the cleaning.
The model splits these costs per class mostly by how much of the train's length and weight each class occupies, so a sleeper berth carries more of the shared cost than a seat. Dining and service space is split evenly per place instead, because everyone has equal access to it.
Found a mistake?
This documentation describes a model that is still being built, and some of it will be wrong. If a number looks off, a source is missing, or an explanation does not hold up, tell us — it reaches the working group with the page you were reading.