National Express has added its signature to two train operating contracts worth a combined €1 billion in Germany.
In June, National Express was named as the preferred bidder for two of the three contracts that make up the new Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) service connecting the cities including Cologne, Dusseldorf and Dortmund.
National Express will take over routes RE5 (Koblenz – Cologne – Dusseldord – Wesel) and RE6 (Cologne/Bonn airport – Cologne – Dusseldorf – Essen – Hamm – Minden) in June 2019 and RE4 (Aachen – Mönchengladbach – Hagen – Dortmund) in December 2020.
The contracts were signed at a ceremony in Hamm on October 19 by National Express’ managing director for rail, Andrew Chivers, and members of the seven local authorities from North Rhine Westphalia.
Also in attendance was the Transport Minister for North Rhine Westphalia, Michael Groschek.
Both contracts will end in December 2033.
National Express is already active in Germany, operating the RME between Krefeld, Cologne, Bonn, Wuppertal and Munster.
