In January 2022, Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) ordered 73 new tram-trains, which will be delivered from 2026 with an option for a further 52 vehicles. It placed the Citylink order as part of a consortium of six German-Austrian operators of the VDV Tram-Train project. As part of the same deal, Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), the other primary operator on the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn network, ordered their own Citylinks for the first time, complementing those already in the fleet of VBK.
