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Flixtrain in Cologne
Photo: Christian Charisius/ dpa
Flixtrain, Deutsche Bahn's only private competitor in the operation of long-distance trains, is expanding its network.
Three new lines are scheduled to go into operation in May and June.
For example, one of them should approach Wiesbaden, Hildesheim and Offenbach from Berlin.
A connection between Hamburg and Stuttgart has already been announced for May 19.
Flixtrain writes this in a message.
The Stuttgart route is operated by the railway company (SVG).
Flixtrain works with Netzwerkbahn Sachsen (NES) between Berlin and Wiesbaden.
First time to Basel
A total of 70 stops will be part of the network in the future.
In addition, from June 23, Basel and thus the first destination in Switzerland will also be connected.
In addition, the number of daily journeys on the existing Munich – Cologne – Hamburg and Hamburg – Berlin – Leipzig routes is to be increased.
The network is particularly well developed in the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation and on the south-west route from Koblenz via the Rhine-Main area to Freiburg and Stuttgart.
The timing of the announcement should be important for the rail competitor: The nine-euro ticket, which is part of the federal government's relief package and is intended to reduce travel costs even in times of high energy prices, will also be valid for three months from June.
However, the nine-euro ticket is not valid for long-distance trains.
With Deutsche Bahn, ICE, Intercity or EC connections are no longer available - and Flixtrain cannot be used at all with the subsidized ticket.
Flix SE, based in Munich, started its business with long-distance buses (Flixbus) in 2012 and offers bus routes in Europe and train services in Sweden.
Since 2018, Flix has been competing with Deutsche Bahn with long-distance train connections.
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In the first few years, the business was characterized by numerous acquisitions of other transport providers, including Postbus from Deutsche Post in 2016. The travel restrictions in the corona pandemic meant that business had to be idle for months.
Since March 2021, the operation has been gradually rebuilt and expanded.
In the same year, Flix also took over the US market leader for long-distance buses, Greyhound.
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