Abellio (transport company)

Abellio is a Dutch public transport company that operates bus and rail services in the United Kingdom and Germany. It was founded as NedRailways in 2001, before being renamed Abellio in January 2010. Abellio is wholly owned by the Dutch national railway company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

United Kingdom

It was announced on 23 August 2022 that Abellio's UK rail and bus operations are to be sold by Nederlandse Spoorwegen to UK-based ownership in a management buyout, subject to approval by the Office of Rail and Road and partner organisations such as Merseytravel and Transport for London. The group's UK operations are planned to be transferred to the Transport UK Group, lead by Abellio's UK managing director Dominic Booth, by the end of 2022.

Buses

In May 2009, Abellio purchased the Travel London and Travel Surrey businesses from National Express and rebranded them Abellio London and Abellio Surrey in October 2009. The latter closed in September 2018.

Abellio currently operates six garages in London and Surrey. Beddington Cross, Battersea and Walworth are operated by Abellio London LimitedCompanies House extract company no 3786162
Abellio London Limited and Fulwell, Hayes and Southall by Abellio West London Limited.Companies House extract company no 689260
Abellio West London Limited As at Summer 2018, the fleet consisted of 724 buses.

Rail

Abellio has a 50% shareholding in Serco-Abellio that has bid for a number of rail franchises. The joint venture has operated the Merseyrail franchise since July 2003. Serco-Abellio also operated the Northern Rail franchise from December 2004 until March 2016. Serco-Abellio also lodged unsuccessful bids for the Wales & Borders, West Midlands and Tyne & Wear Metro franchises.

Abellio has also bid for a number of franchises in its own right, lodging bids for the South Western franchise (in partnership with FirstGroup, South Central, InterCity West Coast, Essex Thameside, Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern and Northern franchises.

In February 2012, Abellio Greater Anglia commenced operating the East Anglia franchise. In 2016, Abellio successfully bid to retain the renamed East Anglia franchise until 2025. In January 2017, Abellio sold a 40% stake in the business to Mitsui.

In April 2015, Abellio ScotRail commenced operating the ScotRail franchise. In December 2019 the Scottish Transport Secretary announced that a 'break clause' would be used to end the 10 year franchise agreement three years early, in 2022 rather than 2025. Ministers cited value for money and the need for financial sustainability as factors in the decision.

In December 2017, West Midlands Trains, a joint venture with East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui in which Abellio owns 70%, commenced operating the West Midlands franchise.

In February 2018, Abellio withdrew from a bid for the Wales & Borders franchise. This bid had been undertaken in partnership with Carillion, but the liquidation of the latter left it without an infrastructure partner.

In August 2019, Abellio commenced operating the East Midlands Railway franchise.

Germany

Abellio Deutschland was initially established by EVAG, the city council-owned public transit company of Essen, in 2004. In December 2005, British investment company Star Capital Partners purchased a 75% share in Abellio from the City of Essen. In December 2008, both sold their shares to NedRailways. The Abellio brand was later rolled out to replace the NedRailways brand internationally.

Bus

In April 2013, Abellio Deutschland announced it would focus on rail transport and sell its three bus companies. In November 2013 VM and Werner were sold to Transport Capital with 220 buses. The remaining KVG business was sold to Rhenus Veniro and the District of Bautzen in October 2014 with 84 buses.

Rail

As of April 2020, Abellio Deutschland operates 50 lines in nine states amounting to 5,518 km with a fleet of 278 trains. Abellio Deutschland owned a 25% share in WestfalenBahn that was founded in 2005.Welcome to Abellio
Abellio February 2017 In July 2017 this was increased to 100%.

The Netherlands

Qbuzz was founded in 2008 by two former Connexxion directors with Abellio having a 49% shareholding.Connexxion, Arriva and Qbuzz
''NRC Handelsblad'' 2 September 2011 (Dutch) Abellio purchased the remaining 51% in April 2013.

In March 2015, Qbuzz was awarded a 15-year concession to operate services in the province of Limburg from December 2016. However, after the discovery of irregularities during the tender process, the contract was awarded to Arriva. In July 2016, Nederlandse Spoorwegen announced its intention to sell Qbuzz. In July 2017 it was sold to Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane subsidiary Busitalia.

Czech Republic

Abellio bought Probo Bus and ran its network in the Czech Republic in 2009. It consisted of regional bus transport in the Beroun District and surroundings and some long-distance bus lines between Prague and South and West Bohemia.

Abellio CZ founded in July 2011. In spring 2012, Abellio CZ lodged an extensive complaint about wrong assignment of the tender to running of fast train line Ostrava – Krnov – Olomouc. The complaints were completely rejected.

In November 2013, Abellio sold Abellio CZ and Probo Bus to Arriva with 110 buses.Arriva acquires Abellio's Czech operations
''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 4 December 2013

References

External links

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{{Abellio, state=collapsed

Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Transport companies established in 2001
2001 establishments in the Netherlands