- Veolia Verkehr
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This article is about Veolia's German operations. For the international parent company, see Veolia Transport.
Veolia Verkehr GmbH is a private operator of passenger buses and trains in Germany. On April 3, 2006, Connex Verkehr GmbH was renamed Veolia Verkehr GmbH, but the sister companies kept their current names.
In Germany, Veolia, formerly Connex, gave each franchise regional names. Most companies operate rather small, regional train and bus services.
Interconnex Line 1 (Gera - Rostock) in 2007
Contents
Regional services and other transportation activities
Since April 4, 2005, Veolia’s German operations have been structured into four regions.
North
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn train between Hamburg and Sylt
Nord-Ostsee-Bahn train between Hamburg and SyltRegion North includes the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and a short line in Denmark. In this region, the Niebüller Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH (NVB) and the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn GmbH (NOB) operate:
- Niebüller Verkehrsbetriebe, a bus company operating ten bus lines with a length of about 530 km (about 330 miles). It has nineteen employees and carries about 680,000 passengers each year. Its main shareholder is the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn;
- Nord-Ostsee-Bahn has been operating a 237-kilometre-long (150 mi) railway service between the island of Sylt and Hamburg since December 12, 2005. The corporate name translates to North and Baltic Sea Railway. It was the first private train operator to offer such a long route. Nord-Ostsee-Bahn also operates the routes Kiel - Husum, Husum - Sankt Peter-Ording, Kiel - Neumünster (together with Deutsche Bahn), Niebüll - Tønder (Denmark) and the bus line Brunsbüttel - Glückstadt. They have more than 250 employees, run about 7.1 million km (4.4 million miles) per year, carry 7 million passengers each year and operate a railway network that is 431 km (270 miles) long.
It is planned to extend these trains from Hamburg on to Berlin and Cologne under the operation of "Ostseeland Verkehrs GmbH" (OLA), which runs all Veolia long-distance trains in Germany. Unlike the trains between Sylt and Hamburg, the trains from Hamburg to Berlin and Cologne are not subsidised by any State of Germany
East
(Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia)
"Talent" train of the OLA
"Talent" train of the OLA- SaxBus Eilenburger Busverkehr GmbH: urban bus lines
- Connex Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH
- Lausitzbahn/Connex Sachsen GmbH
- Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn AG
- Niederschlesische Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH
- Ostseelandverkehr GmbH (OLA)
- Schöneicher-Rüdersdorfer Straßenbahn GmbH: Tram line linking Berlin suburbs to Friedrichshagen S-Bahn station
- Taeter Tours GmbH (Dresden)
- Verkehrsgesellschaft Görlitz GmbH: urban network of 2 tram lines
West
(Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland)
- Alpina Bad Homburg GmbH
- Alpina Limburg GmbH & Co KG
- Alpina Rhein-Main GmbH & Co KG
- Düren trans GmbH
- Farge-Vegesacker Eisenbahn GmbH (FVE), (Bremen)
- HABUS-GmbH Verkehrsbetriebe (Hagen): urban bus lines
- Nassauische Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH
- NordWestBahn GmbH (NWB)
- PalatinaBus GmbH (Edenkoben)
- RegioBus Gütersloh GmbH
- Rheinisch-Bergische Eisenbahn GmbH (RBE) (Mettmann)
- Schaumburger Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH
- TAETER GmbH & Co KG (Aachen)
- Teutoburger Wald Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (TWE), (Gütersloh)
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- TWE-Busverkehrs-GmbH
South
(Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria)
BOB train- Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (BOB)
- Bayerische Regiobahn GmbH (BRB), Holzkirchen and Augsburg
- J.P. Griensteidl GmbH (Gröbenzell)
- Heidenheimer Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH,
- Omnibus-Verkehr Ruoff GmbH (Waiblingen)
- Stadtbus Schwäbisch Hall GmbH: urban bus lines
- Stadtverkehr Pforzheim GmbH & Co. KG (SVP), urban bus lines
- Württembergische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft mbH (WEG), (Waiblingen): regional trains
Long-distance trains
As of 2010 Veolia runs two long distance trains:
InterConnex
Plan of the InterConnex 1Interconnex runs between Leipzig and Berlin Hauptbahnhof, up to three times each way, Monday to Friday. On Saturdays, the train runs from Leipzig to Rostock via Berlin and back on Sunday. The trains are pulled by a locomotive of the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn and consist of new coaches of the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn with air conditioning.
Previously, the service was run all the way between Rostock - Berlin - Leipzig - Gera using German diesel multiple units of the Talent class. This service commenced in December 2001 under the flag of Ostseeland Verkehr GmbH Since those trains were constructed for regional use, longer journeys were quite unpleasant. Only later were they fitted with more comfortable long distance seats. From the beginning on they had a BoardBistro. This train was conceptualized as a compensation for the cancelled Deutsche Bahn trains between Rostock and Leipzig. The trains offered three classes: Traveler, Economy and Business. Each of them with a different kind of service. These classes disappeared in May 2006, when the train service was shortened to the current section Leipzig - Berlin. Ticketing has been simplified at the same time.
There was a period of transition for this service between May and December 2006. During this period, a shuttle train ran between Gera and Leipzig consisting of a diesel multiple unit of the Desiro class. In this period, the train service already ran twice a day only between Leipzig and Berlin, stopping at Berlin Potsdamer Platz (and some trains also at Bitterfeld). On Saturdays the train went all the way to Warnemünde via Neustrelitz, Waren and Rostock, making the return trip on Sundays. On Sundays it drove back from Warnemünde to Berlin and further to Leipzig.
Harz-Berlin-Express
Plan of the Harz-Berlin-ExpressSince December 2005, Veolia subcontractor HarzElbeExpress (HEX) has been operating the Harz-Berlin-Express from Berlin via the lines to Magdeburg and Halberstadt to Thale in the Harz on weekends. This route was previously operated by the Deutsche Bahn.
Abandoned: Interconnex 2/Ostseeland Express
Plan of the Ostseeland ExpressInterconnex 2, which was officially called the Ostseeland Express (OLX) since December 2005, ran between Stralsund, Berlin and Dresden. It came into operation in December 2004, starting at first at Zittau and then running via Berlin to Stralsund, with a summer extension to Rügen. In the summer of 2004, it was even extended at the Zittau side all the way to Liberec in the Czech Republic. Shuttle buses operated from Dresden and Usedom. However, at the timetable modification of December 2004, the route was changed to a shorter stretch. It was abandoned in late 2006.
Abandoned: InterConnex 3
Plan of the InterConnex 3A third line between Rostock and Cologne ran between June 6 and October 27, 2003.
Future plans
Two new lines were planned between Hamburg and Cologne, as well as Hamburg and Berlin as an extension of the regional trains between Sylt and Hamburg from December 2006 on. All long-distance trains should again run under the name of InterConnex. These plans were not implemented though.
Cargo trains
Cargo trains are operated under the name of Connex Cargo Logistics GmbH.
References
Categories:- Veolia
- Private railway companies of Germany
- Railway companies of Denmark
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