Vogtlandbahn

The Vogtlandbahn is a private railway company in Germany, which runs diesel trains on regional lines in the states of Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Berlin and as well as routes into the Czech Republic. Vogtlandbahn is wholly owned by the Arriva subsidiary Regentalbahn.

The company's most prestigious train is the Vogtland-Express: a daily direct return service connecting Hof with Berlin by way of Plauen, Reichenbach, Zwickau, and Chemnitz.

Origins

After German Reunification in 1990, there was a sharp drop in passenger numbers on the rail network in all the new Bundesländer. Saxony, and thus Vogtland was no exception. The railways had old locomotives rolling stock and couldn't compete with the rapidly improving roads. The Saxony government invested in an attempt to improve the attractiveness of the Zwickau–Falkenstein–Klingenthal line and the Herlasgrün–Falkenstein–Adorf (Kursbuchstrecke 539). The track was relaid to a 80 km/h standard, disabled access was facilitated at all stations and new stations opened. Maintenance and tracks were rationalised. Some platforms were removed, some stations such as Schöneck were restyled as simple halts.

To renew passenger confidence, new trainsets were bought and the timetables changed to allow easier connections between services and operators. In September 1994 it was privatised, going to the Regental-Bahnbetriebs-GmbH, a company from Viechtach, Bavaria. In January 1998 it came under the ownership of the Länderbahn group. So in contrast to their former owners the Deutsche Bahn of the DDR, these invested in the company's future. In 1998, the company built their own workshops in Neumark, which were opened in July 2000. The old sheds in Reichenbach were no longer needed.

A further success is the extension of the network into Zwickau town centre. Following the example set by Karlsruhe, the lines extend from Zwickau Hauptbahnhof ("Main Railway Station") to the central markets. As most of the Vogtland network has not been electrified, the train-trams do not use current from the tramwires (as in Karlsruhe) but are driven by diesel engines.Between the Hauptbahnhof and „Stadthalle“ there was a link that could be reactivated. From there to „Zentrum“ the train and the tram use the same tracks. To do this, dual-gauge track has been laid; there are three rails, the tram uses metre gauge (1000 mm), and the Vogtlandbahn uses standard gauge (1435 mm). An extra rail was laid next to the tram line so that they share one rail and each use one of the others as appropriate.

In the years that followed the Vogtlandbahn had many opportunities to bid for further routes to expand its network. Form their core routes in the Vogtland they moved over into Bavaria and Thuringia, with lines to Hof, Schleiz and Gera. When the Czech Republic became a candidate for European Union membership a new market opened. In 2000, after a 55-year gap, the Zwickau–Klingenthal line was reconnected to Kraslice (Graslitz). In 2003 it connected to Sokolov (Falkenau) on the Czech Egertalbahn.

On 14 December 2003 the Vogtlandbahn secured an agreement with DB Regio AG to use the Gera–Weida–Zeulenroda–Mehltheuer line and thus started a general traffic service on the Elstertalbahn between Gera, Greiz and Weischlitz, which previously had required a change.

Following the extension of the Zwickau–Plauen–Bad Brambach line over the Czech border to Cheb (Eger) and thus Marktredwitz in Bavaria, the Plauen-Hof service was extended through Marktredwitz and Weiden (10 June 2001) to Regensburg (15 December 2002).

In the timetable changes of 8 December 2006 the Vogtlandbahn lost the Schönberg Schleiz route in Thuringia. An agreement with DB Regio Oberfranken in December 2006 allowed the Vogtlandbahn to run (Hof–) Münchberg-Helmbrechts and Lichtenfels–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg, alongside the Deutsche Bahn, providing the regional services. [ [http://www.bahn.de/regio_oberfranken/view/mdb/regio_oberfranken/pdf/MDB30223-kooperation_mit_vogtlandbahn.pdf Pressemitteilung (Deutsche Bahn, 8. Dezember 2006): „Regio Oberfranken kooperiert mit der Vogtlandbahn“"Regio Oberfranken cooperates with the Vogtlandbahn"] (PDF-file; 76,7 KB)]

Finally, in autumn 2004 Bavaria sold its final stake in the Länderbahn to the British-owned Arriva group, who already owned the Prignitzer Eisenbahn in Brandenburg. This made them the second largest railway company in Germany.-

Network

The following routes were published in the 2008 timetable.

From 12. June 2005 Vogtlandbahn started their first long distance service. Once a day a train runs from Plauen to Berlin and back.

The Vogtland-Express started early in the morning in Plauen and passed through Reichenbach, Werdau, Altenburg, Leipzig Hbf and Berlin Schönefeld Flughafen to its terminus, Berlin-Lichtenberg. In the evening it returned to Plauen. Travel time was about three and a half hours of which half an hour is needed to pass through the Berlin suburbs. Then in autumn 2005 the route was extended to Hof, giving a connection to north east Bayern.

The train routes through Berlin on the Berliner Stadtbahnhave been subject to much modernisation , so the Vogtland Express moved it Berlin stations in summer 2006. In 2007, engineering works at Leipzig meant a change of route through Zwickau, Chemnitz und Riesa.

This service is pitched for business travellers and day trippers. It leaves a period of about eight hours in Berlin between arrival and departure. The ticket price is 30% lower than on Deutschen Bahn though a lot slower. Tickets can only be bought on the train.
Desiro, trains with with service staff and a catering system are used. [ [http://www.vogtlandbahn.de/pdfs/PI-2006-12.pdf Pressemitteilung (Vogtlandbahn, 17. November 2006): „Vogtland-Express nach Berlin“] (PDF-file; 74,7 KB)]

Arriva-Länderbahn-Express

In 2005 the Bayerischen Eisenbahngesellschaft gained the franchise for the Länderbahn. This was to be a „regionalen Schnellverkehr“ with 2 hour frequency from München through Regensburg to Schwandorf. There the trains would alternate on a four hour frequency to Hof or Furth im Wald. The Länderbahn ran a new service: München – Kempten – Oberstdorf Lindau. This ran in partnership with the Swiss SBB GmbH under the brand name of the „Allgäu-Express“. The Vogtlandbahn bought 90 used carriages, for this service, and had them modernised by the Ausbesserungswerk Weiden. They were drawn by eleven new Diesel locomotives of the EuroRunner class of Siemens Transportation Systems, that were leased from AngelTrains. For the electified section from München –Regensburg four EuroSprinter class locomotives were leased from Siemens Dispolok.

The Vogtlandbahn and the Zweckverband ÖPNV Vogtland are planning to run trains from München to Berlin want to use the Plauen and Leipzig line to Berlin. The Vogtland-Express through Chemnitz and Riesa will be maintained.

References

External links

* [http://www.vogtlandbahn.de/ Official Vogtlandbahn website] (in German)