CZ/SK verze

LNVG Announces a Pan-European Tender for a Regional Network Operator

LNVG Announces a Pan-European Tender for a Regional Network Operator
photo: Alstom Press releases and news/LNVG Announces a Pan-European Tender for a Regional Network Operator
03 / 05 / 2022

LNVG, the Lower Saxony transport authority, has announced a tender for an operator for the regional network in the Hanover region and the city of Bremen for a contract to operate the Express Cross Bremen (Expresskreuz Bremen/Niedersachsen - EBN rail system) rail network.

Railway companies interested in the tender can submit their bids until May 25, 2022. After that, the most cost-effective ones will receive a 13-year contract with a two-year extension option starting in December 2024.

The above-mentioned tender includes the operation of three rail lines:

  • RE 1 Hannover - Norddeich Mole/Wilhelmshaven
  • RE 8 Bremerhaven-Lehe - Hanover
  • 9 Osnabrück - Bremerhaven-Lehe.

The operating contract provides a total traffic volume of 6.38 million train km per year. In addition, according to the agreement, the winning railway operator is obliged to create additional jobs in the rail sector by increasing the number of employees and training them.

"It is always claimed that this is competition at the expense of the employees - but that is not true," says LNVG managing director, Mrs. Carmen Schwabl. "We demand that the new operator pays according to a collective agreement of the railway unions. An operator who doesn't make employees an attractive offer won't find people."

She adds that they "stipulate that in future there must be two customer service personnel on every train."

Moreover, passengers will also be able to reserve seats. "The network leads to important holiday destinations, so reservation is important to increase the attractiveness of the offer," Schwabl says. It's worth noting that this solution is highly atypical for regional trains.

"The rising fuel prices of recent weeks have made it even clearer that regional rail transport is enormously important to ensure mobility even without a car," says, in turn, Lower Saxony minister for economic affairs, labor, transport, and digitalization, Dr. Bernd Althusmann. "This is in addition to the climate protection aspects. With the new trains at the express interchange, we are making the change even more attractive."

Express Cross Bremen is the second-longest system in northwest Germany after the Hanseatic network including the routes Göttingen - Hanover - Hamburg, and Hamburg - Bremen.

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