Focused on highquality services

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.

Operating the first ‘Silberlinge’

At the time of market entry, Abellio was the first non-federal-owned railway company to bring used rolling stock onto the market and put the so-called ‘Silberlinge’ coaches into operation. But this solution was only temporary. In 2005, long-term tender invitations were released for line RB 40 in the same context that was used for line RE 16 Ruhr-Sieg-Express by the VRR, the consortium Ruhr-Lippe (ZRL) and the consortium Westfalen-Süd (ZWS). Operations commenced in December 2007 and in the summer of that year, line RB 40 received modern regional FLIRT trains produced by Stadler Pankow.

Maintenance of the LINT-41 rolling stock that operates on line RB 46 takes place at the Hagen-Eckesey workshop; a depot in which Abellio invested a total of €8 million to reactivate from the German Federal Railway. The depot employs more than 100 people and the workshop is able to maintain additional trains.

Since 9 December 2007, Abellio FLIRT vehicles have been running on the entire RE 16 Ruhr-Sieg-Express line between Hagen, Essen, Iserlohn and Siegen. Prior to this, the Deutsche Bahn ran its own train from Hagen to Iserlohn. Now lines RE 16 and RB 91 from Hagen are separated in Letmathe where the front part runs to Siegen and the rear section runs to Iserlohn station. Due to this concept, Iserlohn had the first direct line to Essen, Bochum and to the Ennepe-Ruhr area. In total, Abellio Rail NRW runs four million kilometres per year; this is approximately 80,000 train rides with about 10 million passengers. The WestfalenBahn contributes another four million kilometres with nearly 60,000 train rides per year and transports about 11 million passengers.

New line RB 47 Der Müngstener to commence operations in 2013

In 2010, Abellio Rail NRW won the competitive bid for the RB 47 Der Müngstener line (Wuppertal-Remscheid-Solingen). Here, another 1.5 million kilometres of journey distance will be added per year (approximately 37,500 train rides). In many respects the RB 47 is something special. It crosses over the Müngstener Bridge at a height of 107 metres. It is the highest railway bridge in Germany. However, the bridge is in extremely poor condition and is showing signs of heavy corrosion. In 2010 the Federal Railway Authority imposed a speed limit and later prohibited trains to cross each other on the bridge. It was later closed altogether.

During the previous year, VRR had, in fact, asked the Federal Railway Authority if the Müngstener Bridge may be closed or if technical problems were to be expected. However, VRR, as a public administration, has no legal status towards the infrastructure operator. Not only must Abellio represent its own and the passengers’ interests, but also the interests of VRR as its contractual partner towards the Federal Railway Authority’s network. As a result of intense negotiations, the Federal Railway Authority network agreed that the bridge should be redeveloped. The redevelopment plans are consistent with the trains used by Abellio and should be finished by the time the operation starts. In 2012 and 2013, several weeks of holiday closings are planned in order to get the track fit for operation again.

For the first time, on line RB 47 and together with VRR, a new train financing model is being realised with Abellio being a pioneer in this business. Following the financial crisis in 2008 and the credit crunch in 2009, Germany was looking for ways to keep the contract placing at the SPNV independent from the moods of the financial markets but without needing to invest in its own standard trains.

For line RB 47, Abellio orders the trains and presents the company as contractor to the train manufacturers. In this case the manufacturer is Salzgitter-based Alstom. After delivery, the trains are sold to VRR which provides the financial means. The good credit worthiness of the public authorities is an advantage for all market players. Abellio rents the trains from VRR, so the client bodies don’t encounter additional expenses; the train financing becomes an item in transit. Abellio and VRR both profit from the financing. In the spirit of reformation of the railway system, the Federal Railway providing is combined with private expert knowledge; so although VRR provides the funds, it can count on Abellio’s professional know-how. And subsequently, from December 2013, customers will see a major improvement.

Line RB 47 between Wuppertal-Ronsdorf and Remscheid has major uphill grades. Therefore, the trains need stronger engines than those used on the Ruhr-Sieg network. In addition to more horsepower, the additional power requires alterations of the gear train components.

Maintenance will take place at the Hagen main workshop. In addition, real estate was acquired at the Remscheid train station where the trains shall be kept and spend the night. Just like in Hagen-Eckesey, real estate that was once abandoned by the Federal Railway Authority, is being reactivated. Altogether 80-90 new staff will be hired, approximately 50 of them being train drivers.

The ‘Abellio-Judgment’ influences the whole traffic industry

On 8 February 2011, the Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe took the most important decision since the train reformation of 1994 and regionalisation of local traffic in 1996. The Supreme Court annulled a direct assignment by the VRR to the German Railways which Abellio had fought against. After years of arguing between the VRR and the German Railways, in 2009 a compromise stipulated to take the urban railway out of the competition by 2023. The procurement chamber of the Münster District Council, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court and the Federal Supreme Court, decided in favour of Abellio and initiated an invitation to tender said traffic services.

After the ‘Abellio-Judgment’ the pack was completely reshuffled. Due to the large number of offers the client bodies have to phrase their request for bids in such a way that as many bidders as possible take part – and they will do that only if they feel that they have a realistic chance of getting the order. However, the client bodies no longer have the option to an unrestricted allocation to the Deutsche Bahn.

Apart from request for bids, Abellio is active and able to offer short-term solutions. While Eurorail had problems during the winter of 2009/2010 with authorisation of its trains, Abellio provided driving trailers which were left from Abellio classic. Some railcars of the WestfalenBahn were also used.

Since 2011, the NordWestBahn has experienced great difficulties, has lacked personnel and has suffered from cancellations. Abellio was happy to oblige, and with the consent of the VRR, provided from 9 January until 29 January one of two runs of the route ‘RB 44 Der Dorstener’ Oberhausen – Dorsten.

Abellio believes in working in addition to on-going requests for bids together with other railway companies. Only by working together is it possible to create a strong railway. The competition is not the trains of other railway companies, but the cars. The precondition for long-term services depends on the traffic which can only be realised if all railway companies come up with a good mutual product. This is what Abellio stands for.

About the author

Bernard M. Kemper began his career as an advisor to a member of the German parliament with responsibility for the environment. In 1990 he joined recycling specialist Sulo/Alvater Group and was quickly promoted to senior management, leading the business’s international expansion in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. After a decade with the company, he joined one of Europe’s largest logistics and environmental services firms, RWE Umwelt, becoming Chairman of the Board. His responsibilities included overseeing business development and integration of new waste management acquisitions and contracts into the business. At the same time, he served as President of the Federation of German Waste Disposal Companies. After leaving RWE in 2004, he developed his own investment portfolio before joining Abellio in 2010.