Unterfranken Shuttle ("Lower Franconia Shuttle") is the marketing name under which the

Erfurter Bahn The (EB, lit. "Erfurt railway") is a railway company and public transit system serving the city of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, Germany. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Erfurt city council, and Süd-Thüringen-Bahn, operating between Er ...

(EB) regional railway operates the lines from Schweinfurt to

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

and Schweinfurt to Gemünden (Main) in Lower Franconia and

South Thuringia South Thuringia (german: Südthüringen) refers to all the Franconia regions in the German Free State of Thuringia south of the Rennsteig and the Salzbogen, but including the entire former county of Kreis_Bad_Salzungen, Bad Salzungen. The region is, ...

in Germany. Operations began in December 2004.

Formation

In summer 2002, the

Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG; German for ''Bavarian Railways Company'') is the passenger transport company for regional railways in Bavaria. Founded in 1995, it is organised as a GmbH wholly owned by the Bavarian Government. The company ...

railway company intended to re-tender for the regional railway services in northern Lower Franconia with a connection to the neighbouring town of Meiningen in southern Thuringia. Instead of an open competition, it carried out price enquiries with five different railway companies. Erfurter Bahn's bid proved to be the most economical, ahead of those of DB Regio and the other three bidders who had already been eliminated.''RB-Leistungen in Unterfranken gehen an die EIB'', in ''

Bahn-Report ''Bahn-Report'' is a German-language magazine published six times per year by ''IG Schienenverkehr e. V.'', covering current activities in the German railway-sector with a focus on operations and infrastructure. Overview Whereas most of th ...

'' (3-2003), Seite 69 The contract covered the regional railway services on the following routes: * '' KBS 803 (Fränkische Saaletalbahn)'' Schweinfurt–Bad Kissingen–Hammelburg–Gemünden (Main) * '' KBS 815 (Main-Rhön-Bahn)'' Schweinfurt–Bad Neustadt (Saale)–Mellrichstadt–Meiningen, a section of the Main Franconian-Thuringian link from Erfurt to Würzburg Compared to the previous transport services provided by DB Regio, the operating volume was increased by around 60,000 train kilometres to 1.2 million train kilometres per year, which made it possible to extend the trains beyond the decentralised

Schweinfurt Hauptbahnhof Schweinfurt Hauptbahnhof is the largest railway station in the Lower Franconian city of Schweinfurt and its transfer hub to the majority of regional buses. In addition to the Hauptbahnhof, the Schweinfurt Mitte (Schweinfurt Central) and Schwein ...

to the city railway station. The transport contract became effective with the start of operations for the timetable change on 12 December 2004 and had a term of ten years. After winning the tender again in 2013, the Lower Franconian shuttle will run until at least 2026 under the direction of Erfurt Railway.Mainpost:
Unterfranken-Shuttle verkehrt weiter bis 2026
' 8. Juli 2013

References

{{Reflist

External links

Unterfranken-Shuttle EB 40 Meiningen–Schweinfurt – Fahrplan
(PDF; 242 kB)
Unterfranken-Shuttle EB 50 Schweinfurt–Gemünden (Main) – Fahrplan
(PDF; 140 kB)
http://www.erfurter-bahn.de
– Offizielle Seite der Erfurter Bahn Rail transport in Bavaria Rail transport in Thuringia Schweinfurt Meiningen Bad Kissingen