You are here: Home » Archives for Germany
Germany - Articles and news items
Latest issue / 11 April 2012 /
In 1993, Germany initiated its structural railway reform. Bundesbahn became Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) and the aim of the reform was to get more traffic on the railways to limit the burden on the budget and to create more competition. Today, one can say that this comprehensive reform was a complete success.
The transport performance of freight and passenger traffic increased considerably, and competition on the rail is clearly increasing, the same as group turnover, productivity and the overall operating results of DB AG.
Due to the economic crisis, turnover, profit and freight transport performance in 2009 decreased as expected but, since 2010, figures have been increasing in these areas.
The reform process is being consistently reviewed to progress even further. In order to successfully master the challenges of the European rail transport market and to ensure further growth in the railway sector, we need economically strong and successful railway undertakings. (more…)
Latest issue / 11 April 2012 /
Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) was founded in 1994 and is now one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics companies. Operating in 130 countries, approximately 290,000 employees, of which about 190,000 are located in Germany, are committed to ensuring that customers are provided with effective and efficient mobility and logistical services.
In a series of recent announcements from DB, the company is showing that it is not putting the brakes on future developments in Germany, with commitments made to invest in line extensions and track investments plus a selection of other significant improvements.
Noise protection
With increasing passenger numbers and a rise in rail traffic, DB recognises the importance of implementing noise protection measures along railway lines. In 2011, DB made good progress in this area by constructing over 55km of new noise barriers and soundproofing 2,550 households. Commenting on the success of the noise protection programme, Oliver Kraft, CEO of DB Netz AG said: “The measures we took in 2011 were innovative and we invested approximately €145 million of federal funding and around €6 million of our own funds.” (more…)
Latest issue / 11 April 2012 /
Abellio was established in 2003 as a subsidiary of ‘Essen Verkehrs AG’ (EVAG), the local public transportation service for the city of Essen. The purpose was to profit from opportunities of a liberalised traffic market and to utilise more than 100 years of experience.
The company’s bus and rail service structure focuses on providing high quality services and the company operates its Abellio Rail NRW subsidiary in the North Rhine Westphalia region. With three additional companies, Abellio owns 25% of WestfalenBahn which operates the Teutoburger forest network in North Rhine Westphalia and in Lower Saxony.
Abellio Rail NRW’s black and silver trains have been in operation on the Ruhr district’s local transport network since December 2005. Upon market entry the company operated on the lines RB 40 Ruhr-Lenne-Bahn from Essen to Hagen and line RB 46 Glückauf-Bahn from Bochum to Gelsenkirchen. The transport association Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) initially granted operation on the RB 40 line for two years and so the acquisition of new vehicles would not have been feasible at that time. (more…)
Latest issue / 11 April 2012 /
In 2012, the Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX) will start operations, thus breaking new ground for open-access operators in Germany. With three six-wagon trainsets, HKX will provide space and comfort combined with modern services on the long-distance route between Hamburg and Cologne.
Although the railway sector deregulation in Germany started as early as 1996, very few attempts to break the dominance of Deutsche Bahn in long-distance travel have been made. Apart from the InterConnex of VeoliaTransdev running between Rostock, Berlin and Leipzig, so far no open-access operators have success – fully joined the Intercity-market in Germany. In October 2009, HKX took up the challenge when it was founded as a joint venture by majorityshareholder Railroad Development Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, USA; Locomore Rail in Germany; and the British-Canadian investor and advisor Michael Schabas, who share the strong feeling that railway travel in Europe should be more competitive.
Looking at Great Britain as a compelling example of how an increase in open-access operators can raise the overall service quality in terms of number of connections, attractive pricing and on-board service, HKX is now setting up operations, which will start between Hamburg and Cologne in late-2012. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 6 April 2011 /
The German rail market is – due to its size of infrastructure and number of customers and its central transit position within Europe – a very interesting target for domestic and foreign train operators. Both the European legal framework and the German Railway reform programme of 1994 encouraged liberalisation of – in 2010 – about 180 railway infrastructures on a network of approximately 75,000 kilometres of rail tracks and 500 service facilities like harbours, shunting yards, terminals and maintenance facilities (the infrastructure managers), enforcing their open access to hundreds of railway undertakings (RUs). Since many of them do both, altogether we count more than 500 infrastructure managers (IMs). (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 6 April 2011 /
Thanks to strong companies, and cooperation and joint ventures with partner railways which have matured over the years, DB Schenker Rail offers rail freight services throughout almost the whole of Europe. DB Schenker Rail comprises the three regions East, Germany/Central and West. The regions are supported by central functions such as production, sales management, finance and human resources. Business activities in the Region are carried out by highly efficient subsidiaries, which act, according to market requirements, either as full railway companies or as pure operating companies. Above and beyond this, specialised sales, forwarding or logistics companies are active in national and cross-border markets1. In an interview for European Railway Review, Dr. Alexander Hedderich, CEO of DB Schenker Rail, explains how the company is moving forward and its commitment to strengthen its European network. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 6 April 2011 /
With 128 years of tradition in railway traffic, AKN Eisenbahn AG looks back on a proud history. Operating 39 double traction wagons, AKN’s service is of utmost importance to ca. 12 million passengers a year, as it opens up metropolitan Hamburg and the interior of Schleswig-Holstein to the public. AKN’s overall rail network extends across the south of Schleswig-Holstein and has a range of 260km.
AKN services a total of 76 train stations in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and has a workforce of 314 in a variety of technical and commercial professions. Since 1998, AKN’s corporate headquarters with a workshop and office building is based in Kaltenkirchen, playing an important role in contributing to the optimisation of traffic flows in the business districts of Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein. (more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
To be able to appreciate which functions the Federal Railway Authority (EBA) fulfils, it is worth taking a cursory glance at the German railway market first. Ranking high within Europe, its hallmark is the vast array of organisations.
The public railway network in Germany covers some 38,000km of route, a good 20,000km of which are electrified by Germany’s standard 15 kV and 16 2/3 Hz current system. This route network is looked after by approximately 160 public infrastructure operators, just under 33,000km of the network being operated by DB Netz AG.
(more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
Arriva Deutschland has an increasingly visible presence on the German rail network with trains travelling millions of kilometres per year and moving tens of thousands of people each day. The unseen driving force behind this success is Arriva’s network of rail workshops which ensures our fleets are ready for service every day.
Getting more than 210 trains into service and making sure they are maintained and ready to meet the daily needs of a busy timetable is a challenge which we, like many other rail operators, have to face.
(more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
100 years ago, railways in Germany had no serious competition. Their share of the freight transport market was 70%. Not until the 1930′s was there a change, brought about by the rise in road transport. Due to technological progress and by being more flexible and customer focused, road haulage was able to rapidly gain market shares.
The cumbersome and complex bureaucratic machinery of the railways was hardly able to reverse the progress, quite the contrary: The railways kept losing market shares and piling up debts. In order to bring these trends to a stop and preserve the railways as an economically and ecologically meaningful mode of transport, the German Bundestag adopted the reform of the railways in 1994.
(more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
Train operating companies obviously need reliable and robust rolling stock in order to provide efficient and effective services to their passengers. This is of course an obvious fact to point out, but an imperative issue nonetheless.
Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) needs no introduction in this German Profile issue of European Railway Review, but the company has made many recent orders for new rolling stock and I think it is important to take this opportunity to highlight the important investments that the company is making to ensure their passenger services are first class.
(more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
Substantial sums are being spent on upgrading the German rail network. The German government has long held plans to introduce private capital into the holding of Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG). This part privatisation has been postponed on account of the world economic crisis, but DB has been reorganised to make it easy to do so when conditions are more favourable.
(more…)
Login to access exclusive content