End of the line for Abellio Germany

[U-Bahnfreund]

Quite a discussion in German rail circles at the moment: Abellio in Germany will rather sooner than later be a thing of the past. Apparently, Abellio's German operations make a loss and ultimately, the Dutch government (personified as finance minister Wopke Hoekstra) doesn't want to throw Dutch taxpayers' money at foreign rail services anymore. So the company went bankrupt and the different regional rail authorities are negotiating with Abellio how to keep rail services running, but of course they don't want to throw endless money at Abellio either. As Abellio Germany is made up of four different subsidiaries operating in different geographical areas, they are being treated differently. For context, here's a map of all their services.

Baden-Württemberg:
The whole company "Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg GmbH", including all its operations (IRE6b, RE10a/b, RE12, RB17a/c/RE17b, RB18), will be taken over by the state-owned railway company of Baden-Württemberg, the SWEG by January 2022. This will last for two years, after which the operations will be retendered properly. Source 1, Source 2, Source 3.

Central Germany (Mitteldeutschland):
The "Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt" contract (HBX, RE4, RE6, RE10, RE11, RE21, RE24, RE31, RB35, RB36, RB41, RB43, RB44, RB47, RB48, RB50, RB77) will be terminated early in December 2023 (original end date: 2032), with a new tender being sorted out until then.

The other contract, "Saale-Thüringen-Südharz-Netz" (RE8, RE9, RE15, RE16, RE17, RB20, RB25, RB51, RB59, RB75) will be operated by Abellio until its contractual end in 2030. Source 1, Source 2.

North Rhine-Westphalia:
This is the most contested one, as it includes lots of important services in the Ruhr and is Abellio's origin, operating on some routes since 2005. Until last Friday (12 November), Abellio had time to offer a proposal to the rail authorities, according to which they could keep their contracts at least for a little while longer (Abellio press release on their proposal). However, already before that, the rail authorities started officially looking for alternatives (Listing 1 in TED, listing 2). According to latest news sources (WAZ), the rail authorities rejected Abellio's proposal, which will mean that all five contracts will end early on 31 January 2022 and other rail companies will take them over as part of a two-year "emergency tender", after which they will be retendered properly. However, unlike in Baden-Württemberg, each contract will be given away individually.

(Speculation incoming: ) Allegedly, some rail companies have already expressed interest in some lines: National Express wants to take over the RRX lines RE1 and RE11 (they already operate the other RRX lines RE4, 5, 6); DB Regio wants to retake the "S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr" contract (S2, 3, 9, RB32, 40, RE49), which includes some lines they only lost in 2019; and VIAS/Rurtalbahn is interested in the S7. No mention of interested companies for the "Ruhr-Sieg-Netz" (RE16, RB46, RB91) or the "Niederrhein-Netz" (RE19, RB35) though.

So while it still needs to be confirmed officially, I think it's rather safe to say that all those contracts will end in January. Especially the VRR (one of the rail authorities) has been quite confronting towards Abellio for a while. We will know soon enough, who will be the eventual new operators. (see down the thread for confirmation).

Westfalenbahn (Lower Saxony/North Rhine-Westphalia):
This is a special case, because Westfalenbahn is a separate company and brand. It used to be co-owned by local bus operators in the region, but it has been owned wholly by Abellio since 2017. If I understand this news report correctly, Westfalenbahn, as a self-contained profitable operation, will stay with Abellio and its two contracts (RE15 and RE60/70; both until 2030) not be terminated early.

----

This is the most up-to-date description of Abellio's state right now according to how I understand it, but of course I'm not an insider and things might change or news outlets might not have reported things correctly.

Personally, as someone living on some of Abellio's routes in North Rhine-Westphalia, I just hope that whatever solution will be eventually be found, rail services won't be affected and trains not cancelled just because of some contractual mishaps. Also staff should of course be transferred well into whatever new operator. I will be a bit sad with Abellio gone. I remember them quite fondly growing up always seeming to perform better than other operators. But in the end, it didn't work out for them apparently.

 

[Watershed]

Quite a discussion in German rail circles at the moment: Abellio in Germany will rather sooner than later be a thing of the past. Apparently, Abellio's German operations make a loss and ultimately, the Dutch government (personified as finance minister Wopke Hoekstra) doesn't want to throw Dutch taxpayers' money at foreign rail services anymore. So the company went bankrupt and the different regional rail authorities are negotiating with Abellio how to keep rail services running, but of course they don't want to throw endless money at Abellio either. As Abellio Germany is made up of four different subsidiaries operating in different geographical areas, they are being treated differently. For context, here's a map of all their services.

Baden-Württemberg:
The whole company "Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg GmbH", including all its operations (IRE6b, RE10a/b, RE12, RB17/c/RE17b, RB18), will be taken over by the state-owned railway company of Baden-Württemberg, the SWEG. This will last for two years, after which the operations will be retendered properly. Source 1, Source 2.

Central Germany (Mitteldeutschland):
The "Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt" contract (HBX, RE4, RE6, RE10, RE11, RE21, RE24, RE31, RB35, RB36, RB41, RB43, RB44, RB47, RB48, RB50, RB77) will be terminated early in December 2023 (original end date: 2032), with a new tender being sorted out until then.

The other contract, "Saale-Thüringen-Südharz-Netz" (RE8, RE9, RE15, RE16, RE17, RB20, RB25, RB51, RB59, RB75) will be operated by Abellio until its contractual end in 2030. Source 1, Source 2.

North Rhine-Westphalia:
This is the most contested one, as it includes lots of important services in the Ruhr and is Abellio's origin, operating on some routes since 2005. Until last Friday (12 November), Abellio had time to offer a proposal to the rail authorities, according to which they could keep their contracts at least for a little while longer (Abellio press release on their proposal). However, already before that, the rail authorities started officially looking for alternatives (Listing 1 in TED, listing 2). According to latest news sources (WAZ), the rail authorities rejected Abellio's proposal, which will mean that all five contracts will end early on 31 January 2022 and other rail companies will take them over as part of a two-year "emergency tender", after which they will be retendered properly. However, unlike in Baden-Württemberg, each contract will be given away individually.

(Speculation incoming: ) Allegedly, some rail companies have already expressed interest in some lines: National Express wants to take over the RRX lines RE1 and RE11 (they already operate the other RRX lines RE4, 5, 6); DB Regio wants to retake the "S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr" contract (S2, 3, 9, RB32, 40, RE49), which includes some lines they only lost in 2019; and VIAS/Rurtalbahn is interested in the S7. No mention of interested companies for the "Ruhr-Sieg-Netz" (RE16, RB46, RB91) or the "Niederrhein-Netz" (RE19, RB35) though.

So while it still needs to be confirmed officially, I think it's rather safe to say that all those contracts will end in January. Especially the VRR (one of the rail authorities) has been quite confronting towards Abellio for a while. We will know soon enough, who will be the eventual new operators. (If this entire segment turns out to be wrong and Abellio's proposal was actually accepted, I'll edit this post).

Westfalenbahn (Lower Saxony/North Rhine-Westphalia):
This is a special case, because Westfalenbahn is a separate company and brand. It used to be co-owned by local bus operators in the region, but it has been owned wholly by Abellio since 2017. If I understand this news report correctly, Westfalenbahn, as a self-contained profitable operation, will stay with Abellio and its two contracts (RE15 and RE60/70; both until 2030) not be terminated early.

----

This is the most up-to-date description of Abellio's state right now according to how I understand it, but of course I'm not an insider and things might change or news outlets might not have reported things correctly.

Personally, as someone living on some of Abellio's routes in North Rhine-Westphalia, I just hope that whatever solution will be eventually be found, rail services won't be affected and trains not cancelled just because of some contractual mishaps. Also staff should of course be transferred well into whatever new operator. I will be a bit sad with Abellio gone. I remember them quite fondly growing up always seeming to perform better than other operators. But in the end, it didn't work out for them apparently.

What would normally tend to happen when a tender is won by a new operator? Do they keep the existing staff, as would be the case with the franchising system here in the UK, or do they hire their own staff?

If the latter, then surely this causes difficulties with getting staff in place with the appropriate traction and route knowledge, who will at some point take over overnight?

Similarly, what happens with the rolling stock? Would the new operator tend to take over the lease?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What would normally tend to happen when a tender is won by a new operator? Do they keep the existing staff, as would be the case with the franchising system here in the UK, or do they hire their own staff?

I believe the latter - Germany doesn't have a TUPE equivalent in my understanding. It's something you'd expect to be EU law but it isn't.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

What would normally tend to happen when a tender is won by a new operator? Do they keep the existing staff, as would be the case with the franchising system here in the UK, or do they hire their own staff?

If the latter, then surely this causes difficulties with getting staff in place with the appropriate traction and route knowledge, who will at some point take over overnight?

Similarly, what happens with the rolling stock? Would the new operator tend to take over the lease?

No, in general those sort of agreements with just transfering the existing staff don't exist here. There have been some quite chaotic operator changes over the years, where the existing staff "jumped the ship" and the new operator didn't have enough people. E.g. DB of course has many driver jobs, so if a regional line gets taken over by someone else, then some drivers just switch to driving ICE instead of transfering to the new operator.

Not exactly sure how it will be with those emergency tenders in North Rhine-Westphalia though.

Regarding the rolling stock, at least in NRW all trains are either leased or belong directly to the regional rail authority anyway (as far as I know). This at least should be relatively easy for new operators to take over.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Always struck me as a very odd way of running things to me. If you are going to constantly re-tender all you do is import massive risk at each re-tendering.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Always struck me as a very odd way of running things to me. If you are going to constantly re-tender all you do is import massive risk at each re-tendering.

The upside of not having a TUPE-a-like is that in the UK there's often no way to get rid of a badly managed organisation, because the managers automatically transfer, whereas in Germany if you retender you get a genuinely new organisation.

 

[YorkshireBear]

The upside of not having a TUPE-a-like is that in the UK there's often no way to get rid of a badly managed organisation, because the managers automatically transfer, whereas in Germany if you retender you get a genuinely new organisation.

Fair point! Hadnt thought of it like that.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Fair point! Hadnt thought of it like that.

In essence the upside is protecting jobs and the downside is protecting jobs. Which side it falls is entirely based on whether the people in those jobs are good at them or not.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

One of the rail authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL) has now published a press release, where they basically confirm the end of Abellio NRW for 31 Januar 2022. Still needs to be voted on by the political bodies of the rail authorities, but as far as I know, it never happens that they make a different decision.

 

[Giugiaro]

... the Dutch government (...) doesn't want to throw Dutch taxpayers' money at foreign rail services anymore.

This line has a certain sparkle to it.

 

[DanielB]

That line is also not completely true by the way... More details were in the 2020 annual report of NS AFAIK, was partially due to covid related compensations as well when I remember correctly.

 

[duesselmartin]

on my line, the RE19 Düsseldorf to Wesel, Abellio had a much better service than DB ever had. Reliable, punctual and clean.
I will miss them.

 

[EAD]

I believe the latter - Germany doesn't have a TUPE equivalent in my understanding. It's something you'd expect to be EU law but it isn't.

Except that TUPE itself originates in the Transfer of Undertakings Directive as a harmonisation measure (Council Directive 2001/23/EC). I believe §613a of the Germany Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - BGB) incorporates the employee protection. This is not of course a legal forum though.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Except that TUPE itself originates in the Transfer of Undertakings Directive as a harmonisation measure (Council Directive 2001/23/EC). I believe §613a of the Germany Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - BGB) incorporates the employee protection. This is not of course a legal forum though.

Interesting, I didn't know about this. I googled a bit and it seems that, since 2016, rail authorities are supposed to demand that the new operator take over the staff and protect their rights according to § 613a BGB and §131 GWB. (Source) [But I'm not a lawyer, so I don't really know]

 

[CC 72100]

North Rhine-Westphalia:
This is the most contested one, as it includes lots of important services in the Ruhr and is Abellio's origin, operating on some routes since 2005. Until last Friday (12 November), Abellio had time to offer a proposal to the rail authorities, according to which they could keep their contracts at least for a little while longer (Abellio press release on their proposal). However, already before that, the rail authorities started officially looking for alternatives (Listing 1 in TED, listing 2). According to latest news sources (WAZ), the rail authorities rejected Abellio's proposal, which will mean that all five contracts will end early on 31 January 2022 and other rail companies will take them over as part of a two-year "emergency tender", after which they will be retendered properly. However, unlike in Baden-Württemberg, each contract will be given away individually.

(Speculation incoming: ) Allegedly, some rail companies have already expressed interest in some lines: National Express wants to take over the RRX lines RE1 and RE11 (they already operate the other RRX lines RE4, 5, 6); DB Regio wants to retake the "S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr" contract (S2, 3, 9, RB32, 40, RE49), which includes some lines they only lost in 2019; and VIAS/Rurtalbahn is interested in the S7. No mention of interested companies for the "Ruhr-Sieg-Netz" (RE16, RB46, RB91) or the "Niederrhein-Netz" (RE19, RB35) though.

Have the new RRX units been delivered on the lines mentioned?

When I was last there it was still DB operated with Dostos but I knew that change was coming along shortly and also new operators and trains.

ps. very detailed and interesting to share - thanks.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

The RRX trains have indeed been in service since December 2018, since December 2020 on all the lines mentioned (RE1, 4, 5, 6 and 11). Personally, apart from small nitpicks (hideous computer-generated announcements and the upper deck windows are bit too curved for tall people), I find them to be really great regional trains.

 

[duesselmartin]

The better accelation also improved punctuality.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Abellio confirms they will stop running train services in North Rhine-Westphalia after 31 January 2022:

https://www.abellio.de/news/abellio...rsvertraglichen-pflichten-nordrhein-westfalen

Edit: and the rail authorities have promised to Abellio's staff that they will all be taken over and working conditions largely be kept the same (including wages etc.): https://www.vrr.de/de/presse/aufgabentraeger-sichern-arbeitsplaetze-von-abellio-mitarbeitern/

 

[gordonthemoron]

I did Halle (Saale)-Wernigerode-Magdeburg with "Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt", absolutely appalling, I have never come across a worse run TOC anywhere in the world. Trains late pr cancelled for no apparent reason, next to no info, the only good thing about them was the travel centre at Halberstadt and the guard from Halberstadt to Magdeburg getting the connecting DB RE to wait for us in Magdeburg

 

[DanielB]

Never had such bad experiences with them, although knowing their own tickets sometimes was an issue.
I once travelled on a VRR Stufe D 24 hour ticket purchased from their ticket machine at Arnhem Central in the Netherlands. That machine provides you with a simple receipt with only "24 Stunden Ticket", "D" and a QR code on it, which left the guard studying it for quite a while on my return trip with the RE19, then asking for a pen to write the time on it.

Didn't seem he was really able to verify the validity of a ticket they'd sold themselves.

 

[Ex-controller]

I wonder if this strategy by the Dutch Government regarding Abellio’s loss making services abroad has been informed by their experience with ScotRail?

 

[DanielB]

This hasn't anything to do with strategy by the Dutch government. It were compensation payments by the German regions which were essential for Abellio Germany to avoid bankrupcy.
For details, see the 2020 annual report of NS

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Multiple sources now claim to know which operators will take over from Abellio in North Rhine-Westphalia on 1 February after a (not public) meeting at the VRR yesterday.

RE1, RE11: National Express
RE16, RB46, RB91: DB Regio
RE19, RB35: VIAS
S2, S3, S9, RB32, RB40, RE49: DB Regio
S7: VIAS

WDR article, Zeit article

The electric part of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn will then be wholly in the hands of DB Regio again, and the entire Rhine-Ruhr-Express (RRX) network operated by National Express. On the RB40 and RB46 DB Regio returns after 16 years of Abellio, as well as 14 years on RE16 and RB91. Other lines, such as the S2, S3 and S9 were only given to Abellio in December 2019.

 

[StephenHunter]

RB40 has seen the return of n-Wagens and even 111s.

 

[DanielB]

As the Abellio rolling stock needs to be adapted before the new operators can take over, several services are operated with replacement rolling stock at the moment. With RE11 being the weirdest as its partially operated with couchettes.

 

[duesselmartin]

RE19 has three diagrams of 112s, 114 with n- Wagen and double deck DR stock.

 

[DanielB]

RE19 has three diagrams of 112s, 114 with n- Wagen and double deck DR stock.

To add to that: those operate the additional peak hour trains to Emmerich as they obviously can't cross the border.
In the evening of the 31st of January there are some services with replacement stock as well. There will be no trains between Emmerich and Arnhem that evening.

Apparently also the Abellio ticket machines in Arnhem are out of order until further notice since they went into bankrupcy.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Interesting to hear the difference between changes over here when the same sort of thing happens.

Why does the rolling stock need to be adapted? Different working practises between companies?

On a purely selfish note, how long does it take as I'm in cologne in June and some of these services sound interesting!

 

[duesselmartin]

I fear the adoption is no more than new logos and possibly updating the information software. The rolling stock is owned by the transport authority VRR and not Abellio.

Cologne is not affected and by March 1st, services are suppose to be back to the usual.

 

[AlexNL]

I've been told that the staff don't simply transfer over - instead they have to get hired by the new company, have to get trained for the procedures of the new company, and have to receive new equipment (uniforms, laptops, smartphones, and so on). This all takes time and that's why spot-hire companies have now been pulled in (like TRI and Centralbahn) to run replacement services.

NRW choosing to split up Abellio's operations and divide them over several operators of last resort greatly complicates stuff, as the whole organisations has to be untangled. The approach taken by Baden-Württemberg makes more sense to me, they simply acquired the whole of Abellio BW and will continue to run it as-is while new tenders are being prepared in the background. NRW not doing the same thing makes me suspect that NRW felt that they could no longer trust Abellio at all and would rather spend more money on transferring routes to the OLRs and hiring in spot-hire companies for replacement traffic, than give Abellio another cent.

It's all a bit silly if you ask me.