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0 pointshopelite5mo ago0 comments

Would you happen to know if they would be using their own branded/livery trains, or would they be using DB trains, or maybe just DB cars pulled by a British locomotive?

It just raises so many questions in my mind that of all entities, a British train operator would be operating a train that is bounded within the German rail system.

My first thought is that it's some kind of counter-union effort through fake "competition" by bringing in foreign, private operators into the network.

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2 comments · 2 top-level

tEem215mo ago

They are running their own trains and their own liveries. What happens a lot of the time in German regional services is that private operators run routes for DB, because they are required to offer them. There is some actual competition forming in German long-distance trains (Flixtrain), but the important bottleneck in Germain train travel is the rail network, which is owned and (at least supposedly) maintained by the recently formed DB InfraGo

stefanlindbohm5mo ago

Competition on the railways is mandated through EU law.

Most regional services are tendered to the (in theory) best operator. The details on how, both which governing body organises the tender and whether the trains are branded by the region or the operator, varies across Europe. In Germany, these contracts are operated by a mix of DB, foreign state-owned operators and private operators. DB sells tickets for all region-organised trains regardless of who is the current operator.

Most countries have decided to have no or limited tenders on long-distance trains. In Germany, government support is prohibited for long-distance.

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