photo: FlixTrain/Patrick Schadowski/FlixTrain
FlixMobility, which inaugurated its first rail services under the FlixTrain brand in Sweden on 6 May, announced on 11 May that it intends to start operations in Germany on two other intercity routes in the coming months as part of an expansion programme aimed at doubling the volume of services to the public.
FlixTrain suspended operations at the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year, but in July 2020 resumed scheduled east-west services connecting Aachen, Köln, Hanover and Berlin, and the Köln-Hamburg line via Düsseldorf, Essen, and Osnabrück. Its established Berlin-Frankfurt-Stuttgart route is expected to resume operations in June.
Ticket bookings were launch on the 11 May on the north-south route connecting Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig, which is due to start operating from the 27 May. From 17 June it will be extended south to Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Munich, and from 11 September north to Kiel. FlixTrain operates up to eight trains a day between Leipzig, Berlin, and Hamburg, competing with Deutsche Bahn's half-hour ICE trains.
The second new route will be introduced on 18 June, will connect Munich and Frankfurt via Augsburg, Würzburg, and Aschaffenburg; which will initially have one train in each direction per day.
FlixMobility founder and CEO André Schwämmlein said that the group used the pause during the pandemic to modernize its fleet and offered a "quantitative leap in the quality of rolling stock." With the support of Railpool leasing company, the group has acquired a significant fleet of used vehicles, which are being renovated by Talbot Rail Services in Aacha and are equipped with onboard wi-fi.
The expanded fleet will allow the operator to provide cheap services on multiple routes with tickets from EUR 5 per journey. "We are putting more trains on the tracks and we want to send a clear signal," Schwämmlein said. "Train travel must be accessible to all. And people should have a choice which train they want to take. This is all the better because we provide an excellent alternative with modern trains, affordable prices and fast travel times. "
New night trains
Schwämmlein confirmed that FlixTrain is also preparing to enter the night train market, and from mid-June, the company will introduce two-night trains between Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg. "If all goes well, we will expand services to include other destinations," he added. Although DB withdrew from this market a few years ago, the state operator is working with Austrian ÖBB to support several Nightjet lines and has announced its intention to operate night seating services using high-speed ICE trains.