Go-Ahead and Abellio have been awarded contracts to operate rail services on Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg rail network from 2019.
For Go-Ahead it represents the company’s first operating contract in Germany. The British group has been awarded two separate lots by Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (NVBW) which will run until 2032 and are worth around €1.6 billion.
Go-Ahead chief executive David Brown said: “We have 18 years’ experience providing passenger rail services in UK rail operating on busy and complex networks and we are pleased to be able to bring our expertise in the German rail market.”
Abellio Deutschland was awarded the contract for Lot 1 of the Neckar Valley Stuttgart network.
The arrangement includes services from Stuttgart – Muhlacker – Pforzheim / Bruchsal, Stuttgart – Heilbronn – Mannheim/Osterburken and Stuttgart – Tubingen. Over the course of the contract, Abellio will introduce 43 new trains and run approximately 6.8 million passenger kilometres a year.
Stephan Krenz, managing director of Abellio Deutschland, said: “With the takeover of the largest lot in the Stuttgart Network, Abellio will deliver its business in one of the highest income and economically important cities of Germany and Europe.”
Both awards are subject to a mandatory 10-day cooling off period.
