Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of passenger buses and trains in Germany. It is a subsidiary of Transdev.
History
In 1997, Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Verkehrswesen was purchased by a CGEA GroupEnBW consortium. In 2000, CGEA bought EnBW's shares and rebranded the operation Connex Verkehr. in April 2006 it was rebranded as Veolia Verkehr, and following the merger of Transdev and Veolia Transportation as Transdev in March 2015. Transdev, as was the case with Veolia and Connex, operates dozens of subsidiaries, each with their own name. Most of them operate small, regional train and bus services.
Regional services and other transport activities
Transdev’s German operations have been structured into four regions since April 2005.
Niebüller Verkehrsbetriebe, a bus company operating ten bus lines with a length of about 530 km. 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 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, Niebüll - Tønder and the bus lineBrunsbüttel - Glückstadt. They have more than 250 employees, run about 7.1 million km '' per year, carry 7 million passengers each year and operate a railway network that is 431 km long.
It is planned to extend these trains from Hamburg on to Berlin and Cologne under the operation of "Ostseeland Verkehrs GmbH", 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
From 2001 to 2014, Transdev ran a number of long distance trains:
InterConnex
The Interconnex ran between Leipzig and Berlin, up to three times each way, Monday to Friday. On Saturdays, the train ran from Leipzig to Rostock via Berlin and back on Sunday. The locomotives and carriages were provided by the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn. It commenced on 1 March 2002 as the first open access operator in Germany. Previously, the service was run all the way between Rostock - Berlin - Leipzig - Gera using Bombardier Talentdiesel multiple units. This service commenced in December 2001 under the flag of Ostseeland Verkeher 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 Leipzig - Berlin. 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. 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. This service ceased on 13 December 2014.
Harz-Berlin-Express
Since December 2005, Veolia subcontractor HarzElbeExpress has been operating the Harz-Berlin-Express from Berlin via the linesto Magdeburg and Halberstadt to Thale in the Harz on weekends. This route was previously operated by Deutsche Bahn.
InterConnex 2/Ostseeland Express
Interconnex 2, which was officially called the Ostseeland Express 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.
InterConnex 3
A third line between Rostock and Cologne ran between 6 June and 27 October 2003.
Freight trains
In January 2002, Connex Cargo Logistics commenced operating freight services. In 2009 it was sold to SNCF.
