It was a nerve-wracking contract game that has now probably come to an end: The Abellio railway company will no longer send trains through North Rhine-Westphalia from February.
The market elimination would be a novelty in the country.
Hagen - The ailing regional train company Abellio will soon cease its train operations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The lines, which make up one sixth of the local rail passenger transport (SPNV) in the state, are to be taken over by other rail companies in February.
The board of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) sent a corresponding recommendation for a resolution to its administrative board on Wednesday, as the German press agency learned from well-informed circles.
The “Neue Ruhr Zeitung” (NRZ) reported on it beforehand.
The VRR Board of Directors will meet on Monday to decide on this step.
Should the supervisory body follow the recommendation, a train company in North Rhine-Westphalia would have to leave the market for the first time since the liberalization of the rail market around two decades ago.
Abellio Rail GmbH, which is responsible for North Rhine-Westphalia, had been negotiating with the local transport associations - such as the VRR - about injections of funds, better conditions and the early return of two particularly loss-making contracts.
Last Friday, the company made a very last offer to cover follow-up costs and then hoped for the green light from the authorities - that is, the local transport associations.
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Instead of relying on Abellio in the future, the VRR board wants to pull the rip cord and break new ground.
This step could cost taxpayers a lot of money because the new contracts negotiated in the emergency awards are likely to cost significantly more than before.
The handover of the business could not go smoothly either.
The market leader in local rail transport in the most populous federal state is DB Regio of Deutsche Bahn AG.
In addition, companies such as National Express and the Nordwestbahn are on the move in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Abellio has operated lines such as the RE1 from Aachen via Cologne to Hamm and the RE49 from Wesel to Wuppertal.
The subsidiary of the Dutch State Railways is also active in the S-Bahn network in the Rhine-Ruhr region.
dpa
