Hessische Landesbahn

Hessische Landesbahn (Hessian State Railway, HLB) is a regional transport company owned by the German state of Hesse, based in Frankfurt am Main. It provides bus and rail passenger transport services and, to a lesser extent, rail freight services in Hesse and across the state’s borders through its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Company

The management of Hessische Landesbahn is supervised by Veit Salzmann. The districts and the State of Hesse are represented by four people on the Supervisory Board and the employees also have four seats on the Board.

Structure

Hessische Landesbahn GmbH operates as the holding company of three subsidiaries:

HLB Hessenbus and HLB Hessenbahn are 100 per cent owned subsidiary, HLB Basis is almost 85% owned by HLB, while the remaining shares are mostly owned by local authorities.[1]

History

The company was founded in 1955 as a holding company of several non-government-owned railways in Hesse, which operated as an integrated railway company with its own rail infrastructure, stations, etc., as well as operations on this infrastructure.

In the course of the separation of infrastructure and operations in 2005, three of the four subsidiaries of HLB: the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn, the Butzbach-Licher Eisenbahn and the Kassel-Naumburger Eisenbahn were united under the holding company of the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn, since trading as HLB Basis, as the common infrastructure operator.

Train services

VT 301 of the HLB running towards the Kahlgrund Railway in Hanau
GTW 2/6 in Hanau Nord station
FLIRT 429 045 of the HLB in Gießen.

The subsidiaries of the Hessische Landesbahn operate 3.8 million train kilometres each year over 237.5 kilometres of line and 10.34 million vehicle kilometres each year over 1,013 km of bus route.

The main line of the HLB originally was the Königstein Railway between Königstein and Frankfurt-Höchst of the former Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn (Frankfurt-Königstein Railway, FKE), known as the K-Bahn and part of the Frankfurter Verkehrsverbund (Frankfurt Transport Association, FVV).

In the 1990s, the HLB subsidiaries operated a number of local lines acquired from Deutsche Bahn in north and middle Hesse. Since 11 December 2005, HLB multiple units have operated on the Kahlgrund Railway from Hanau to Schöllkrippen in the Bavarian Spessart. Besides railways it operates buses and tram lines.

Since December 2010, HLB has also run on the main line Frankfurt–GießenSiegen/Marburg routes (RMV lines 30/40, the Main-Sieg-Express) and, since December 2011, it has operated Regionalbahn services on the RMV lines 25, 35 and 52 on the Limburg–Gießen, Gießen–AlsfeldFulda and the Fulda–Gersfeld routes.

Investments

HLB Basis AG has a 50% interest in Regionalbahn Kassel (RBK), with the remainder held by Kasseler Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (KVG). The KVG operates the Kassel–Waldkappel railway, which combines rail freight and tram traffic. The RBK, in turn, holds 49% of Regionaltram Betriebsgesellschaft, a joint venture with Deutsche Bahn, which, as RegioTram Kassel, operates tram-trains in the Kassel area.

Through other subsidiaries the HLB operates passenger transport services beyond the Hessian borders in four of the six neighbouring states:

Fares

Hessische Landesbahn is a member of the Tarifverband der Bundeseigenen und Nichtbundeseigenen Eisenbahnen in Deutschland (Fare association of federally and non-federally owned railways in Germany). Tickets for travel on Deutsche Bahn trains can therefore also be used on HLB trains.

Lines

The following lines, using the numbering of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund are operated by the Hessische Landesbahn:

Service Line name Route Concession period Normal rolling stock
Current route network
R 9 Main-Weser-Bahn Schwalmstadt-Treysa – Wabern – Kassel Hbf 14.12.2014 – 7.12.2024[2] FLIRT[3]
SE 12 Königstein Railway Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Frankfurt-Höchst – Königstein im Taunus ?? – 14.12.2019 VT 2E, LINT 41/H
RB 13 Soden Railway Frankfurt-Höchst – Bad Soden am Taunus
SE 15 Taunus Railway Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Bad HomburgFriedrichsdorfBrandoberndorf
RB 15 Bad Homburg – Friedrichsdorf – Brandoberndorf
RB 16 Friedrichsdorf–Friedberg railway Friedrichsdorf – Friedberg 24.05.1998 – 14.12.2019 GTW 2/6
SE 20 Main-Lahn-Bahn Limburg (Lahn) – Niedernhausen – Frankfurt-Höchst – Frankfurt (Main) Hbf (a daily pair of train services) Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2019 (provisionally)[4] GTW 2/6
from Dec 2015 Desiro
(from line RB 56)[5]
RB 21 Main-Lahn-Bahn, Ländchesbahn Limburg (Lahn)Niedernhausen – Wiesbaden Hbf
RB 25 Lahn Valley Railway Limburg (Lahn)WetzlarGießen 11.12.2011 – 9.12.2023 LINT 41
RB 29 Unterwesterwaldbahn Limburg (Lahn) – Montabaur – Siershahn Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6, 629
RE 30 Main-Weser Railway Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Gießen – Marburg (Lahn) (– Stadtallendorf) 12.12.2010 – 9.12.2023 FLIRT
RB 31 Friedberg–Mücke railway Friedberg – Wölfersheim-Södel 30.05.1999 – 14.12.2019 GTW 2/6
SE 32 Main-Weser Railway, Beienheim–Schotten railway Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Friedberg – Nidda 30.05.1999 – 9.12.2012
RB 32 Beienheim–Schotten railway Friedberg – Nidda 30.05.1999 – 14.12.2019
RB 33 Friedberg–Hanau railway Friedberg – Nidderau – Hanau 11.06.2001 – 30.06.2012
RB 35 Vogelsberg Railway Gießen – GrünbergAlsfeld – Lauterbach – Fulda 11.12.2011 – 9.12.2023 LINT 41
RB 36 Lahn-Kinzig Railway Gießen – Hungen – Nidda – Glauburg-StockheimGelnhausen ?? – 14.12.2019
RE 40
RE 99
Main-Weser Railway, Dill Railway (Main-Sieg-Express) Frankfurt (Main) Hbf – Gießen – Wetzlar – DillenburgSiegen 12.12.2010 – 9.12.2023 FLIRT
RB 40
RB 95
Sieg-Dill-Bahn Dillenburg – Siegen (– Betzdorf – Au(Sieg) until Dec. 2015) Dec. 2014 – Dez. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6
RB 52 Fulda–Gersfeld Railway Fulda – Gersfeld 11.12.2011 – 9.12.2023 LINT 27, LINT 41
RB 56 Kahlgrund Railway Hanau Hbf – Kahl am MainAlzenauSchöllkrippen 11.12.2005 – 12.12.2015 Desiro
RB 90 Oberwesterwald-Bahn Limburg (Lahn) – Westerburg - Altenkirchen – Au (Sieg) (– Betzdorf – Siegen (– Kreuztal) until Dec. 2015) Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6
RB 91 Ruhr-Sieg-Bahn Siegen – Finnentrop (a single daily pair of services) Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6
RB 92 Biggesee-Express Finnentrop – Olpe Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6
RB 93 Rothaarbahn Bad Berleburg – Erndtebrück – Siegen (– Betzdorf until Dec. 2015) Dec. 2014 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6
Future services
RB 41
RB 96
Hellertalbahn Betzdorf – Herdorf – Haiger – Dillenburg Dec. 2015 – Dec. 2030 LINT, GTW 2/6

Notes

  1. Beteiligungsbericht 2005 Landkreis Kassel (in German). Landkreis Kassel. p. 66.
  2. "NVV schreibt R9 Kassel – Treysa erneut aus" (in German). 29 October 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  3. "Stadler liefert vier weitere FLIRT an die HLB". Eisenbahnjournal (in German). 15 December 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  4. "Dienstleistungsauftrag D-Hofheim am Taunus: Öffentlicher Schienentransport/öffentliche Schienenbeförderung". 24 December 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  5. "Ab Mitte Dezember: Abends bessere Zugverbindungen". Nassauische Neue Presse (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2015.

External links

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