Class 463 / 464 (Siemens Mireo)

Updated: August 2026 – A modern electric multiple unit with a smooth side wall and a large panoramic front rolls into the platform: if a 463 or 464 appears on the side of the train, you’re looking at a Siemens Mireo. This page explains what tells the two numbers apart, how to distinguish the design from the FLIRT, Coradia and Desiro, and what to watch for when photographing it.

What is Class 463 / 464?

Classes 463 and 464 are electric multiple units for local service from the Mireo family by Siemens Mobility. They run under AC overhead line, form a short-coupled train with no separate locomotive, and are designed for regional and S-Bahn platforms.

The dual number confuses many newcomers, but follows a simple logic: two class numbers, one vehicle type, two lengths. The lower number stands for the shorter version with fewer car sections, the higher one for the longer one. You’ll know exactly this pattern from the FLIRT classes – from the three-car Class 427 to the longer Class 428. So the class number describes the configuration, not the technology.

Important for placing it: the Mireo is a manufacturer family, not a class. The same platform appears in Germany under several numbers, including as Class 1463 and, in a battery-electric version, as Class 563.

How to identify the train in three steps

The systematic sequence – first vehicle type, then design, then number – is described in the guide to identifying classes. How the twelve-digit vehicle number is structured and why the leading 94 is so helpful here is explained in the piece on the UIC number and its check digit.

What the UIC code 94 tells you about the vehicle

The first two digits of the twelve-digit vehicle number are the type code. For multiple units it’s particularly handy, because it settles the vehicle type before you’ve checked any other detail.

Type code	Vehicle type	Typical example
91	Electric locomotive	four-axle passenger locomotive
92	Diesel locomotive	main-line diesel locomotive
93	Diesel multiple unit or railcar	regional railcar without overhead line
94	Electric multiple unit or railcar	Mireo, FLIRT, Talent, S-Bahn multiple unit
95	Special vehicle with its own drive	railway service vehicle

If a 94 stands at the start of the number, the matter is clear: not a locomotive-hauled train, but a multiple unit with powered cars within the formation. Everything else – length, manufacturer, class – you then read off the three digits of the class number.

Use, operator, and why it keeps changing

Local multiple units rarely belong permanently to one region, even where Mireo units have become defining, as at the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar. Service contracts are tendered, re-awarded and expire, run by transport authorities such as the Zweckverband ÖPNV im Ammertal – and with them, entire vehicle fleets migrate. For you as a spotter, that means:

• Network lists age fast. What held two timetable years ago can be out of date today.
• Liveries change with the operator, not with the vehicle. The same multiple unit can be documented in two colour schemes.
• The vehicle number stays. It’s the only stable feature across changes of service award.

That’s why every sighting needs a date, place and number. How to build that up so it’s evaluable is shown in the guide to keeping a sighting logbook. Anyone wanting to track running trains in real time will find the right tools in the piece on live sightings and train radar.

Photo practice: bright fronts, dark platforms

Three points that matter especially with this type of vehicle:

1. Get the whole train in frame. A multi-section multiple unit is long. At the platform end you need either distance or a shorter focal length – which lens suits this is covered in the guide to the best telephoto lens for railway photography.
2. Photograph the number too. A picture without a legible vehicle number is half worthless for documentation.
3. Keep your distance. The platform edge and the track area aren’t a photo spot. Stay behind the safety line – the rules are summed up in the piece on safe distance at the track.

Common mix-ups

Modern local multiple units are the hardest identification case of all: every manufacturer builds light, smooth-surfaced aluminium trains with a large windscreen. These features really do tell them apart.

For a direct comparison, it’s worth looking at the double-deck Siemens Desiro HC as Class 3462: same manufacturer world, completely different silhouette.

One point adds extra risk of confusion: multiple traction. Two coupled three-car units look from a distance like one six-car train – and anyone who counts car sections across the whole train inevitably ends up with the wrong variant. So always count only up to the next driving cab. The unit length is the class feature; the train length, by contrast, is pure scheduling and changes several times over the course of a day.

One last practical note: never rely on the livery with modern local multiple units. Colour schemes belong to the service contract, not the vehicle – the same vehicle can turn up in a completely different design after a change of award, while the vehicle number stays unchanged. Anyone identifying a sighting by colour alone will systematically produce errors in their own archive. So note the number and the livery separately, and both stay usable even if one of them changes.

Conclusion

Classes 463 and 464 are a good example of how the German class system works for multiple units: the number describes a configuration, not a design. Anyone who counts car sections, checks the bogies and finally reads the vehicle number gets it right reliably – while shape and livery alone regularly lead you astray.