The Metronom railway company () is a German partly-state-owned railway company based in the Lower Saxon town of

Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...

since December 2005. The company's activities focus exclusively on passenger transport, operating services from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

and

, and from Uelzen to

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. Services listed on the timetables are abbreviated ''ME''. Furthermore, the company operates services from

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

to Hanover and

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

under its other brand ''Enno''. The company's logo, depicting a swinging

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

, is often rendered in

lower case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

as ''metronom'' (the German word ' literally meaning ''

metronome A metronome () is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a uniform interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats per minute (BPM). Metronomes may also include synchronized visual motion, such as a swinging pendulum ...

'').

History

At the end of the 1990s, the three participating

States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

—

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

and

—agreed to replace

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

services on the routes between Hamburg and Bremen and Hamburg-

operated by

DB Regio 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 ...

with their own

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

. The company was founded in February 2002 under the name of MetroRail. The ownership structure has remained unchanged and consists of three companies that represent the individual states and were based almost exclusively in the public domain. Specifically, these are the NiedersachsenBahn GmbH (69.9%), the BeNEX GmbH (25.1%) and the Bremer Straßenbahn AG (5.0%). The NiedersachsenBahn GmbH acts as an operating company and is a union of the railways

Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen The Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (OHE) is a Celle based transportation company with railway network in North-eastern Lower Saxony around the Lüneburg Heath area of over 250 km. The OHE's main business is the transportation of freight ...

(OHE) (60%), based in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

and the railways and transport companies Elbe-Weser GmbH (

Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser EVB Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH is a German railway and bus company offering passenger and freight services that is headquartered in Zeven and Bremervörde. The company was created in 1981 by the merger of the two companies ' ...

) (40%) of

Zeven Zeven () is a town in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of around 14,000. The nearest large towns are Bremerhaven, Bremen and Hamburg. It is situated approximately 22 km northwest of Rotenburg, and 40& ...

. In autumn 2003, the company was renamed after a dispute with

Metro AG Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. , Metro is operating 626 wholesale stores in 21 countries, including Europe and P ...

and their current name and the logo were adopted. For 14 December 2003 the operation was established on the lines

and

. In April 2007, the majority of the OHE was sold, by the state of Lower Saxony, Germany and the

AG, after a bidding process to the British transport company

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

Bachstein GmbH, in which the Arriva Germany GmbH is involved with 86%. As a result, Arriva indirectly controls 30.7% of the capital of the Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft and so is its largest shareholder. Metronom does not own vehicles nor maintenance resources. All locomotives and railway carriages are rented by the state transport company Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen mbH (LNVG) and are maintained in the depot of OHE Uelzen by personnel of the manufacturer

Bombardier Inc. Bombardier Inc. () is a Canadian aerospace manufacturer that produces business jets. Headquartered in Montreal, the company was founded in 1942 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier to market his snowmobiles, and it later became one of the world's big ...

and the OHE. This depot was built specifically for the maintenance of the metronom trains and is located in the north of Uelzen, in the so-called Dannenberger Bogen. The maintenance of the trains by the

for the Lower Elbe Railway takes place in

Bremervörde Bremervörde () is a town in the north of the district (''Landkreis'') of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the Oste river near the centre of the "triangle" formed by the rivers Weser and Elbe, roughly equidistant from the ci ...

, for this the trains are transferred partly through the route of the former Buxtehude Harsefelder Eisenbahn and partly through the section of the Stade-Bremervörde Moor Express, at the latter three complete units coupled together. With the monitoring and disposal of its trains, the railway company metronom has also mandated the OHE. From

the OHE staff controls around the clock the entire company operations and initiates appropriate measures to stop irregularities (e.g. delays, road closures, personnel failures, vehicle interference).

Operations

The company operates the following services.

Fleet

Names of Metronom locomotives

* ME 146-01 (146 501) –

Scheeßel Scheeßel (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Scheeßl'') is a municipality in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Wümme, approx. 10 km northeast of Rotenburg, 45 km east of Bremen, and 70 km sou ...

+ 60 Jahre Niedersachsen * ME 146-02 (146 502) –

* ME 146-03 (146 503) –

Bienenbüttel Bienenbüttel is a free municipality in the district of Uelzen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ilmenau, approximately north of Uelzen, and southeast of Lüneburg. Bienenbüttel is a part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region ...

* ME 146-04 (146 504) –

Buchholz in der Nordheide Buchholz in der Nordheide (, ; Northern Low Saxon: ''Bookholt'') is the largest town in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km southwest of Hamburg. Geography Buchholz is home to the Brunsberg ...

* ME 146-05 (146 505) –

Rotenburg (Wümme) Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, a district in Hesse, Germany See also * Rotenberg (disambigua ...

* ME 146-06 (146 506) –

Winsen (Luhe) Winsen (Luhe) () is the capital of the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the small river Luhe, near its confluence with the Elbe, approx. 25 km southeast of Hamburg, and 20 km northwest of Lüneburg. Hi ...

* ME 146-07 (146 507) –

Lauenbrück Lauenbrück is a municipality in the district of Rotenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Lauenbrück belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, established in 1180. In 1648 the Prince-Bishopric was transformed into the Principality of Verden, whic ...

* ME 146-08 (146 508) –

* ME 146-09 (146 509) –

Tostedt Tostedt (Low German ''Töst'') is a municipality in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the central administration of the collective municipality (Samtgemeinde Tostedt) which consists of 9 joint communities. Geography Ge ...

* ME 146-10 (146 510) –

Bad Bevensen Bad Bevensen (West Low German: ''Bemsen'') is a town in the north of the district Uelzen in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated to the east of the Lüneburg Heath (''Lüneburger Heide''). The Ilmenau river, a tributary of the Elbe, flows thro ...

* ME 146-11 (146 511) –

Einbeck Einbeck (; Eastphalian: ''Aimbeck'') is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, on the German Timber-Frame Road. History Prehistory The area of the current city of Einbeck is inhabited since prehistoric times. Vario ...

* ME 146-12 (146 512) – Burgdorf * ME 146-13 (146 513) –

Alfeld (Leine) Alfeld (Leine) () is a town in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. Located on the Leine river and situated approximately 20 km southwest of Hildesheim, it is the second biggest city in the district of Hildesheim in southern Lower Saxony and ...

* ME 146-14 (146 514) –

Sarstedt Sarstedt () is a town in the Hildesheim (district), district of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has approximately 18,500 inhabitants. Sarstedt is situated 20 km south of Hanover and 10 km north of Hildesheim. Sarstedt station is o ...

* ME 146-15 (146 515) –

Elze Elze () is a town in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approximately west of Hildesheim. The municipality of Elze also comprises the villages of ''Esbeck, Mehle, Sehlde, Sorsum, Wittenburg' ...

* ME 146-16 (146 516) –

* ME 146-17 (146 517) –

Langenhagen Langenhagen (; Eastphalian: ''Langenhogen'') is a town in the Hanover district of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. Overview Großburgwedel Großburgwedel (, , in contrast to "Kleinburgwedel, Little Burgwedel"; ) is a village northeast of Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Formerly an independent municipality, it is part of the town of Burgwedel since 1974. Großburgwedel is home to the ...

+ 60 Jahre Niedersachsen * 91 80 6146 531-9 D-ME (146 531) -

Seevetal Seevetal (Northern Low Saxon: ''Seevdaal'') is a municipality in the district of Harburg (district), Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Hamburg, and 15 km west of Winsen (Luhe). Its seat is in t ...

Maschen Maschen is a village in the municipality of Seevetal in Hamburg district in the German state of Lower Saxony. It lies south of Hamburg on the northern edge of the Lüneburg Heath and within the commuter zone of the city of Hamburg. Maschen Mars ...

* 91 80 6146 532-7 D-ME (146 532) -

- Meckelfeld * 91 80 6146 533-5 D-ME (146 533) -

Bardowick Bardowick is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is three miles north of Lüneburg on the navigable river Ilmenau. Bardowick is also the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Bardowick. N ...

* 91 80 6146 534-3 D-ME (146 534) -

- Hittfeld * 91 80 6146 537-7 D-ME (146 537) - Stelle * 92 80 1246 002-0 D-BTK (246 002-0) -

Buxtehude Buxtehude (; , ), officially the Hanseatic City of Buxtehude (), is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany, belonging to the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and attached to the city's S-Ba ...

* 92 80 1246 003-8 D-BTK (246 003-8) -

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

* 92 80 1246 004-6 D-BTK (246 004-6) -

Stade Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the Stade (district), district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the wes ...

* 92 80 1246 005-3 D-BTK (246 005-3) -

Horneburg Horneburg is a municipality southwest of Hamburg (Germany) in the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. Horneburg is also the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Horneburg. History Horneburg belonged to the Prince-Archbishopri ...

* 92 80 1246 006-1 D-BTK (246 006-1) -

Otterndorf Otterndorf (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Oterndörp'') is a town on the coast of the North Sea in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, and is part of the collective municipality () of Land Hadeln. The town, located in the administrative distric ...

* 92 80 1246 007-9 D-BTK (246 007-9) -

Himmelpforten Himmelpforten (Low Saxon: ''Himmelpoorten'') is a municipality west of Hamburg (Germany) in the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is located on the creek. Himmelpforten is also part and the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipal ...

References

External links

Official web site

360° Virtual Reality View of Metronom Car
{{Authority control Railway companies of Germany Private railway companies of Germany