Vlexx
GmbH (stylized in lowercase in its logo) is a rail transport company based in
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
,
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and a
subsidiary of the
Regentalbahn, which in turn has been part of the Italian state railway
Ferrovie dello Stato
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...
(FS) since 2011 via its
parent company Netinera
Netinera (formerly Arriva Deutschland) is a railway company operating in Germany.
It was founded as a subsidiary of British Arriva, Arriva plc in 2003 and initially headquartered in Hamburg. After the acquisition of Regentalbahn in 2004, the compa ...
. Vlexx operates local rail passenger transport exclusively with diesel railcars in Rhineland-Palatinate,
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
and
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
as well as a connection to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
on the
Winden-Wissembourg railway line into the
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
to the railway station of
Wissembourg
Wissembourg (; South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
It is situated on the little river Lauter close to the border between France and Germany a ...
.
The company
The company's name was ''DNSW'' when it was founded in 2012 and derived from the route network, the ''diesel network southwest'', whose cornerstones are the
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
cities of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
,
Koblenz,
Worms Worms may refer to:
*Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs
Places
*Worms, Germany
Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...
,
Kaiserslautern and
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...
as well as
Saarbrücken in the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
and
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
. On weekends in the summer season there is also a train pair to
Wissembourg
Wissembourg (; South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France.
It is situated on the little river Lauter close to the border between France and Germany a ...
in
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
.
From the outset, the ''DNSW'' name was intended only as a temporary solution. In a name competition in January 2014, the public was able to participate in the naming process. In order to underline a regional reference of the company, a suitable name was sought. The choice fell on ''vlexx, der Vier-Länder-Express'' (''vlexx, the four-country express'').
[Vlexx-Website]
''Vlexx – der neue Zug für den Südwesten''
Pressemitteilung 20 March 2014, retrieved 19 November 2014 (PDF-Datei, 203 kB)
History
Invitation to tender for the diesel network
At the end of February 2012, the
Regentalbahn was selected by the
Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Süd (''ZSPNV Süd'') as the winner of the ''Dieselnetz Südwest - Los 2'' tender. Since the 2014/2015 regular timetable change on 14 December 2014, the company has been operating the
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
-
Alzey-
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden (), the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, ''Ki ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
-
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
-
Bad Kreuznach-
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...
-
Saarbrücken (Regional-Express services),
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
-
Bad Kreuznach-
Kaiserslautern (a Regional-Express train pair during peak working hours) and
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
-
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...
-
Baumholder
Baumholder () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The town of Baumholder is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verba ...
/
Neubrücke (Nahe) lines for 22.5 years until June 2037. In December 2016, an additional Regional-Express line was introduced on the
Kaiserslautern-
Bad Kreuznach-
Bingen-
Koblenz route, which means that 6.4 million train-kilometres per year now have to be covered. The ''diesel network southwest'' contains non-electrified main and secondary railways in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
and connects the
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
,
Nahe,
Western Palatinate
Western Palatinate or West Palatinate (german: Westpfalz) is a sub-region in the west of the Palatinate (region), Palatinate, a German cultural and historic region in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It includes the western part of the Palatine ...
and
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
regions in particular with the
Rhine-Main region and the centres of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
,
Rüsselsheim am Main
Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on the Mai ...
and
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
as well as
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...
.
A total of 63
LINT 54 and
LINT 81 diesel railcars are used for train services. In the meantime,
Regentalbahn founded ''DNSW'', a subsidiary to which the provision of services was transferred. The DNSW was later renamed ''vlexx'' as part of a competition.
The first new vlexx trains have been running since July 2014 on the future operating routes on a trial basis.
Problems during the start of operations
On 27 November 2014 it became known that vlexx did not have enough train drivers to operate all train services at the timetable change 2014/2015. The former operator of the train services,
DB Regio, was therefore commissioned by vlexx to operate individual train services.
When the operation started on 15 December 2014, there were massive train cancellations and, in some cases, delays lasting several hours. As a result, an emergency timetable was published on 17 December with which only about 50% of all train services were served. In addition, the managing directors were dismissed and replaced by Arnulf Schuchmann, the managing director of
ODEG
Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (''ODEG''; literally "East German Railway") is a joint venture, founded in June 2002, of the Prignitzer Eisenbahn (part of the Netinera Group) and BeNEX, with each company owning 50% of the joint venture. It operates pas ...
, which is also partly owned by
Netinera
Netinera (formerly Arriva Deutschland) is a railway company operating in Germany.
It was founded as a subsidiary of British Arriva, Arriva plc in 2003 and initially headquartered in Hamburg. After the acquisition of Regentalbahn in 2004, the compa ...
. On 6 January 2015, the emergency timetable was extended in stages so that from 12 January about 90% of all train services could be served again. Since the beginning of March 2015, all contractually agreed connections have been served. This includes in particular the reactivated line between
Heimbach and
Baumholder
Baumholder () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The town of Baumholder is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verba ...
, which was only served by a replacement bus.
After Vlexx took over the last service from DB Regio (
Bodenheim
Bodenheim is a state-recognized tourism municipality (''Fremdenverkehrsgemeinde'') in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Geography
Location
The municipality lies roughly 12 km south of downtown Mainz on the edge of t ...
-
Kaiserslautern services) on 1 July 2015 with a six-month delay, train cancellations occurred again due to a lack of personnel. This affected five connections that were taken over by
DB Regio and
Transregio during the summer holidays in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
or were completely cancelled.
Tender of the E-Netz Saar
On January 9, 2017, the ''Ministry of Economy, Labour, Energy and Transport'' of the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
announced that vlexx had won ''Los 2'' of the ''E-Netz Saar-RB'', comprising 2.3 million train kilometers. The RB lines
Saarbrücken-
Neubrücke (Nahe),
Saarbrücken-
Neunkirchen (Saar)
Neunkirchen (; pfl, Neinkeije) is a town and a municipality in Saarland, Germany. It is the largest town in, and the seat of the district of Neunkirchen. It is situated on the river Blies, approx. 20 km northeast of Saarbrücken. With abou ...
-
Homburg and
Homburg-
Illingen will then be operated by the company. These are to be served by 21
Talent 3 electric railcars. The currently still non-electrified line from
Saarbrücken to
Lebach-Jabach is also included in the tender lot. This line will initially be operated with
Desiro Classic diesel railcars, electrification is planned for 2024, and from then on
Talent 3 electric railcars will also be operated there. As an alternative, the use of a battery electric multiple-unit train based on the Talent 3 is planned.
Network
Excursion trains
Contracting authorities and transport associations
The contracting authorities and transport associations of Vlexx for these services are:
*
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
, the
Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Nord (SPNV-Nord) as well as the
Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Süd (ZSPNV Süd)
*
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
, the
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a transport association that covers the public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus.
Organisation and area covered
The RMV ...
(RMV)
*
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
, the ''Ministry of Economy, Labour, Energy and Transport''
The vlexx lines operate in the transport associations
Rhein-Main (RMV),
Rhein-Nahe (RNN),
saarVV,
Rhein-Neckar (VRN) and
Rhein-Mosel (VRM).
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Transport, Germany
Railway companies of Germany
Companies based in Mainz