Abellio Deutschland is a public transit operator in Germany operating bus and rail networks. Headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, it is a subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned

Abellio Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshiped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France), known primarily by a number of inscriptions which were discovered in Comminges, in the Pyrenees. He may have been a god ...

History

Abellio Deutschland was formed by the

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

public transit company ( EVAG, today part of Ruhrbahn) in 2004. In 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.

Operations

Rail

As of December 2016, Abellio Deutschland operated 18 lines over 978 kilometres with a fleet of 86 trains.Welcome to Abellio
Abellio February 2017

Abellio Rail NRW

Abellio Rail NRW was founded in September 2005. It operated several regional railway lines in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. The NRW network stretched from

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

, from

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

and

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geogr ...

via

Hagen Hagen () is a city in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr (river), Ruhr. In 2023, the ...

as well as from

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

via

Remscheid Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remscheid ha ...

(line S7). In December 2016, it commenced operating along the

Lower Rhine Lower Rhine (, ; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bonn in Germany and the North Sea at Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, including the '' Nederrijn'' () within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta; alternat ...

network between

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

in the Netherlands and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

and Bocholt. From December 2018, it has operated the Rhine-Ruhr-Express with the

Rhein-Hellweg-Express The Rhein-Hellweg-Express (RE 11) is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Kassel via Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, Dortmund, Bochum Hauptbahnhof, Bochum, Essen Hauptbahnhof, Essen, Duisburg Hauptba ...

(RE11) and since June 2020, it has operated the

NRW-Express The NRW-Express is a Regional-Express rail service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Aachen Hauptbahnhof, Aachen via Köln Hauptbahnhof, Cologne, Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof, Düsseldorf, Duisburg Hauptbahnhof, Duisbur ...

(RE1). Both were supposed to run until December 2033. In December 2016, Abellio NRW commenced operating a 12-year concession to operate Niederrhein-Netz services using the

Oberhausen–Arnhem railway The Oberhausen–Arnhem railway (also known in German as the ''Hollandstrecke'', meaning "Holland line") is a two-track, electrified main line railway running close to the lower Rhine from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof, Oberhausen via Wesel railway stat ...

covering the

Rhein-IJssel-Express The Rhein-IJssel-Express () is a Regional-Express service in German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch province of Gelderland. It runs from Düsseldorf to Arnhem, with a section splitting at to serve Bocholt. VIAS operates the servic ...

(RE19),

– Zevenaar – Emmerich –

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

–

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

–

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

–

Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047. The Düsse ...

– Düsseldorf and the

Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn The Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB 35) is a Regionalbahn service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs hourly between Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof, Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg Hauptbahnhof, Duisburg with Mönchengladbach Hauptbahn ...

(RB35),

–

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

–

. In April 2017 the former was extended into the Netherlands to

. In December 2019, it commenced operating lines S2, S3 and S9 of the

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn () is a polycentric S-bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and cities such as Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen), the B ...

network with 29

Stadler Flirt Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

s. On 31 January 2022, Abellio Rail NRW ended its operations. The different contracts were awarded in emergency tenders to other rail companies: * ''Rhein-Ruhr-Express'' (RE1, RE11):

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

* ''Ruhr-Sieg-Netz'' (RE16, RB46, RB91):

DB Regio NRW DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...

* ''S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr'' (S2, S3, S9, RB32, RB40, RE49):

* ''Der Müngstener'' (S7):

VIAS Rail The Vias GmbH (stylized VIAS) is a rail service company based in Frankfurt (Germany). The name of the company was taken from the Latin word via for ''way'' and the letter ''S'' for service. It operates rail services in the states of Hesse, Rhine ...

* ''Niederrhein-Netz'' (RE19, RB35):

Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland

Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland commenced operating the Saale-Thuringia-Südharz (STS) electric network since December 2015 on a 15-year contract, over ten lines with a route length of 575 kilometres. The network extends from Halle to

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

as well as from

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

to Erfurt and

Saalfeld Saalfeld () is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin. Geography The town is situated ...

. In December 2018, Abellio Deutschland commenced operating 12 routes in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. These are being operated by 52

Alstom Coradia Lint The Alstom Coradia LINT is an Articulated car, articulated railcar of the Alstom Coradia family manufactured by Alstom since 1999, offered in diesel and hydrogen fuel models. The acronym ''LINT'' is short for the German ''"leichter innovativer Na ...

Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg

From June 2019 Abellio took over some regional train lines in Baden Württemberg under a 13-year contract. Initially a fleet of 43

Bombardier Talent 2 The Talent 2 is an electric multiple unit manufactured by Bombardier Transportation. The train began production in 2008 and first entered service with Deutsche Bahn in 2011. Despite having the same name as the original Talent, designed by Wag ...

s were ordered. This was later increased by five. Abellio operated the following regional routes in Baden-Württemberg: * RB 17a Stuttgart - Mühlacker - Pforzheim (- Bad Wildbad*/Wilferdingen-Singen) * RE/RB 17b Stuttgart - Mühlacker- Bretten - Bruchsal - Heidelberg * RB 17c Stuttgart - Mühlacker - Bretten - Bruchsal * RE 10a Mannheim - Mosbach-Neckarelz - Heilbronn - Stuttgart - Tübingen * RE 10b Mannheim - Sinsheim (Elsenz) - Heilbronn - Stuttgart - Tübingen * RB 18 Osterburken - Heilbronn - Stuttgart - Tübingen * IRE 6 Stuttgart - Tübingen On 1 January 2022, Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg was taken over by the state-owned Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG (SWEG).

WestfalenBahn

Abellio Deutschland owned a 25% share in

WestfalenBahn WestfalenBahn is a railway company operating regional train service in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Northern Germany. It was founded in 2005 by Essener Versorgungs & Verkehrsgesellschaft, Minden Museum Railway, moBiel and Verkehrsb ...

that was founded in 2005. In July 2017 this was increased to 100%.

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.Abellio sells the Dreiländereck to Oberlausitz
Abellio 29 October 2014 (German)

References

External links

Abellio Deutschland company website
{{Abellio, state=collapsed Abellio (transport company) Public transport operators of Germany Railway companies of Germany Transport companies established in 2004 2004 establishments in Germany