Veolia Verkehr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Veolia Verkehr GmbH is the largest 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.
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[edit] Short-distance trains and other transportation activities
Since April 4, 2005, Veolia’s German operations have been structured in four regions.
[edit] North
Region North includes the federal states (Hamburg, 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 is a bus company operating ten bus lines with a length of about 530 km (about 330 miles). It has nineteen employees and transports about 680,000 people each year. Its main shareholder is the Nord-Ostsee-Bahn,
- Nord-Ostsee-Bahn has also been operating a 237 km (150 mile) long railway service between Sylt and Hamburg since December 12, 2005. The corporate name translates as North and Baltic Sea Railway. It is the first private train operator making such a long journey. The Nord-Ostsee-Bahn also operates the routes Kiel - Husum, Husum - Sankt Peter-Ording, Kiel - Neumünster together with the Deutsche Bahn, Niebüll - Tonder and the bus line Brunsbüttel - Glückstadt. They have over 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 the "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
[edit] East
(Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia)
- SaxBus Eilenburger Busverkehr GmbH : Urban buses,
- Connex Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH,
- Lausitzbahn/Connex Sachsen GmbH,
- Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn AG,
- Niederschlesische Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH,
- Ostseelandverkehr GmbH (OLA),
- Schöneicher-Rüdersdorfer Straßenbahn GmbH : Tram line linkink Berlin suburbs to S Bahn station Friedrichhagen,
- Taeter Tours GmbH (Dresden),
- Verkehrsgesellschaft Görlitz GmbH : Urban network with 2 tram lines.
[edit] 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,
- HABUS-GmbH Verkehrsbetriebe (Hagen) : Urban buses,
- 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),
- TWE-Busverkehrs-GmbH.
[edit] South
(Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria)
- Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (BOB),
- J.P. Griensteidl GmbH (Gröbenzell),
- Heidenheimer Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH,
- Omnibus-Verkehr Ruoff GmbH (Waiblingen)
- Stadtbus Schwäbisch Hall GmbH : Urban buses
- WEG-Kraftverkehrs-GmbH,
- Württembergische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft mbH (WEG).
[edit] Long-distance trains
Veolia runs three long distance trains:
[edit] InterConnex 1
Interconnex 1 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 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.
[edit] Interconnex 2: Ostseeland Express
Interconnex 2, which is officially called the Ostseeland Express (OLX) since December 2005, runs 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 the current, shorter stretch.
[edit] Harz-Berlin-Express
Since December 2005, Veolia subcontractor HarzElbeExpress (HEX) has been operating the Harz-Berlin-Express from Berlin via Magdeburg and Halberstadt to Thale in the Harz on weekends. This route was previously operated by the Deutsche Bahn.
[edit] Abandoned: InterConnex 3
A third line between Rostock and Cologne ran between June 6 and October 27, 2003.
[edit] Plans for the Future
Two new lines are 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 will again run under the name InterConnex.
[edit] Cargo trains
Cargo trains are operated under the name Connex Cargo Logistics GmbH.
[edit] External links
- http://www.veolia-verkehr.de Veolia Verkehr GmbH website
