Abellio loses most of its German rail contracts
ABELLIO, which was the second biggest operator of rail concessions in Germany a year ago, has now lost the majority of its contracts as it has grappled with a financial crisis.
Abellio Deutschland is reported to have lost €147 million on a turnover of €744 million in Germany in 2020, and spent several months in court-supervised bankruptcy protection in 2021. Its attempts to renegotiate contracts have largely failed and most have been taken away by state transport authorities in the regions concerned.
From February 1, all of the former Abellio contracts in the Ruhr region (five contracts, worth €262 million in 2020) have been handed to other operators with National Express Group, national operator DB Regio and private company VIAS sharing them until they are retendered in 2023.
In the south west of Germany, the state government in BadenWürttemberg has nationalised the Abellio Baden-Württemberg subsidiary which was bought for around €5 million by the state’s own train operating company SWEG in late 2021. The Abellio contracts centred on Stuttgart will be retendered in 2023.
In eastern Germany, Abellio will retain the Saale-ThüringenSüdharz-Netz contract serving Leipzig, Erfurt and Saalfeld using Talent 2 EMUs until it ends in 2030, but will give up the Sachsen Anhalt diesel DMUoperated network from 2024.
Abellio’s wholly owned subsidiary WestfalenBahn remains part of the Dutch group and its contracts, mainly in Lower Saxony, are unaltered.