Siemens and Lufthansa Technik to Develop a Medical Evacuation Train for Germany's Military: More Than 150 Patients per Train, With Intensive Care Beds
Berlin — Siemens Mobility and Lufthansa Technik Defense announced on November 3 that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a military medical evacuation train for the German armed forces and NATO allies, able to carry more than 150 wounded or sick patients per train, including those needing intensive care. The announcement came ahead of the Berlin Security Conference. A memorandum of understanding is a statement of intent, not a procurement contract; neither company announced a customer, quantities, cost or a delivery timetable.
Under the plan, the train will consist of Siemens Vectouro coaches hauled by a Vectron locomotive, while Lufthansa Technik Defense will fit the coaches with its aeromedical evacuation systems, stretcher racks and fully equipped intensive care beds, with up to about 90 medical and support staff on board. The coaches can be configured for all four NATO patient categories, from basic care to intensive care, and can be converted back to ordinary passenger use.
Germany's military has planned since 2022 to convert high-speed trains into hospital trains; the earlier plan was to convert three ICE 3neo trains with about 30 intensive care places each, but a procurement decision is still pending and the Bundeswehr medical service is drafting its own requirements for a tender. In the military's publicly stated scenario, a full-scale war on NATO's eastern flank could produce up to 1,000 casualties a day needing evacuation; this year's Medic Quadriga 2026 exercise rehearsed moving large numbers of casualties from the front to German hospitals. Ukraine's experience of moving wounded by train on a large scale during the war is a direct reference point for Germany's push.
(Source: Siemens Mobility)
Source: Siemens Mobility
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：停靠在柏林中央车站的德国 ICE 3neo 高速列车（资料图）。照片 CC BY-SA 4.0，作者 Entbert，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A German ICE 3neo high-speed train at Berlin Central Station (file photo). CC BY-SA 4.0, by Entbert, via Wikimedia Commons.
