Railway companies

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany and Switzerland . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Railway company ( EVU ) is a legal term from European railway law that is specified by national laws, namely in

• German General Railway Act (AEG) of December 27, 1993;
• Swiss Railway Act (EBG) of December 20, 1957 in the version valid from January 1, 2010.

According to this, railways are public institutions or railway companies organized under private law that provide railway transport services (railway companies) or operate a railway infrastructure ( railway infrastructure companies (EIU) according to the German AEG, infrastructure operators according to the Swiss EBG).

RUs operate on the railways of railway infrastructure companies, unless they also have their own function. European law provides that this network access can also extend to infrastructures in other countries. However, a safety certificate is required in the country concerned.

In Germany there are now 447 public and 145 non-public EVU (as of February 1, 2016). In addition to the DB AG's own RUs, more and more so-called “third parties” ( non-federally owned railways ) have been on the rail network of DB Netz and other RIUs in recent years . Mainly in local transport and freight transport, the third parties are gaining more and more market shares compared to Deutsche Bahn . According to information from Deutsche Bahn, around 135 passenger rail companies use the DB Netz rail network. A total of 395 railway companies operate on the DB network (as of May 2013).

In Switzerland there are currently 39 companies that have a network access permit and three companies that claim transit rights with a foreign permit. Another 44 RUs do not need a network access permit today, as they only operate on their own infrastructure.

Admission criteria as an EVU

• Reliability ( certificate of good conduct )
• Expertise (passed examination as railway operations manager )
• Financial performance ( annual financial statements )
• Liability insurance (coverage over 20 million euros per damaging event [which may have to be available twice a year] or over 100 million CHF per damaging event)

The operating permit (a distinction is made between passenger and goods traffic) is issued in Germany by the responsible state authority and is valid for 15 years. In Switzerland, the Federal Office of Transport issues the network access permit , which is valid for 10 years.

The EIU is to be driven on its infrastructure have additional conditions of access to their respective rail network, which in the current valid terms and conditions can be found.

See also

• Railway company
• List of German railway companies
• List of Austrian railway companies
• List of Swiss railway companies
• List of railway companies in the United Kingdom

Web links

Commons : Rail transport companies  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Register of railway companies on the website of the Federal Railway Authority
• Page no longer available , search in web archives: List of Swiss railway companies on the website of the Federal Office of Transport

Individual evidence

1. ^ Deutsche Bahn AG (Ed.): Deutsche Bahn and the Federal Network Agency come to an agreement on the further development of the station price system . Press release from September 3, 2012.
2. ↑ Peter Thomas: Fast and on time . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . May 14, 2013, p. V13 ( faz.net ).