City railway Saxony

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Logo of the city railway of Saxony

The Städtebahn Sachsen GmbH , initially EGP - the Städtebahn GmbH , was a railway company with its headquarters initially in Potsdam , later in Dresden and finally in Niedernberg . The company was founded by the Potsdam Railway Company and was later a joint subsidiary with another partner. From 2014 it was a subsidiary of what was then Städtebahn Management GmbH .

From the end of 2010 to mid-2019, the company operated a regional network of local rail transport routes around the Saxon capital of Dresden on behalf of the Upper Elbe Transport Association . On July 25, 2019, it ceased operational rail operations. On October 2, 2019, the company was dissolved as a result of insolvency and is now in liquidation.

history

The "EGP - die Städtebahn GmbH" was founded by the Eisenbahngesellschaft Potsdam mbH (EGP) in order to enter the Saxon rail passenger transport. It was initially based in Potsdam. The Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) awarded “EGP - die Städtebahn GmbH” on March 19, 2010 the contract to operate its diesel network for an initial period of four years from December 2010 to December 2014. On October 8, 2010 this company was renamed “Städtebahn Sachsen GmbH ”was renamed when a second shareholder was added to EGP with NBE Regio GmbH, a subsidiary of the Northern Bavarian Railway Company. On November 25, 2010, the relocation of the company's headquarters to Dresden was registered with the local court. The RU approval for the provision of rail transport services in rail passenger transport was granted on December 10, 2010 and was valid until December 31, 2023. This permit was extended on October 27, 2014 to include the provision of freight transport services .

On June 27, 2012, the workshop on the site of the gravel works in Ottendorf-Okrilla Nord on the route to Königsbrück was inaugurated. In the 760 m² hall, regular maintenance as well as minor and major repairs could be carried out on two vehicles. The operator of the workshop was Städtebahn Service GmbH. On June 1, 2013 the Potsdam railway company sold its 50% stake to the other shareholder NBE Regio. The NBE was now the sole owner of the Saxony urban railway. On October 1, 2014, the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main upheld a lawsuit brought by the Städtebahn Sachsen against the regional surcharges of the train path pricing system required in 2011 and sentenced Deutsche Bahn to repay almost four million euros.

Trains of the Saxony urban railway in the Kurort Altenberg (Erzgeb) station. With its narrow radii, steep inclines and high snowfall in winter, the Müglitztalbahn is one of the most technically difficult routes in Saxony. The railroad operation with the light railcars repeatedly led to particular problems. (2014)

After winning the tender in the “VVO diesel network” again, the city railway of Saxony provided passenger transport on the network already used before with the known vehicles from December 2014; the contract would have run until December 2024. According to its own information from the beginning of 2016, the company had operated almost ten million train kilometers by then, with a punctuality rate of 99 percent. The number of passengers had risen by 13 percent since 2011. In 2016 and 2017 there were a total of ten collisions between railcars on the urban railway and fallen trees, which is why the company accused DB Netz of neglecting vegetation maintenance on the branch lines. Some branches protrude into the clearance profile and leave scratches in the paint. The urban railway puts the damage caused at one million euros.

A train on the RB71 line leaves Sebnitz (Sachs) station in the direction of Neustadt (Sachs) . In 2018 and 2019 there was rail replacement traffic on this section for months because neither enough staff nor vehicles were available. (2013)

At Pentecost 2018, the Saxony urban railway stopped traffic between Neustadt (Sachs) and Sebnitz due to a lack of staff, instead buses were running on the section. According to information from the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe, there and between Dresden and Koenigsbrück have been repeatedly announced train cancellations at short notice for several months, although a replacement bus service was not always guaranteed. At the time, 34 train drivers were employed by the Sachsen urban railway, six fewer than planned. According to the company, train drivers in the Dresden area were particularly poached by freight transport companies. Despite less favorable working hours, there are better paid and thus more attractive jobs there. From July 1, 2018, the aim was to compensate for the shortage of staff with temporary workers, so that the rail replacement service should be a thing of the past. According to its own information, the urban railway had also concluded a collective agreement with the German Locomotive Drivers Union (GDL), so that underpaid employees should be a thing of the past from January 2019. Since then, as the “first local rail transport company in Germany”, each train driver has been given their own company car that could also be used privately. That made you an "attractive company".

Between May and October 2018, the Saxony urban railway was unable to provide a total of 30,000 train kilometers due to the persistent staff shortage. Since October 15, 2018, the Städtebahn Sachsen has been paying "voluntary" compensation of 50 euros to regular customers with subscription monthly tickets and job tickets. With it, "(asked) the city railway of Saxony to apologize for train cancellations, replacement services and delays in recent months". This compensation was financed by the money that the VVO, as the client, had demanded from its contractor as a penalty. On November 12, 2018, the Upper Elbe Transport Association announced that the Saxony urban railway would continue to operate all passenger trains between Sebnitz (Sachs) and Neustadt (Sachs) until March 1, 2019, and thus not provide the transport service contractually agreed with the VVO.

After the cessation of traffic, a total of twelve multiple units were securely parked in Dresden-Friedrichstadt station. At this point in time, some vehicles are already damaged by vandalism in the form of extensive graffiti . (August 2, 2019)

On June 13, 2019, the Aschaffenburg District Court registered the relocation of the company's headquarters from Dresden to Niedernberg on June 14, 2019 at the Dresden District Court . This was preceded by a corresponding resolution by the shareholders' meeting on May 23, 2019. The company name and the company's purpose, the provision of local rail transport services in Saxony, remained unchanged.

On July 25, 2019, all rail operations were completely stopped without public notice and without the organization of replacement services. The lessor of the 15 multiple units terminated the lease without notice on July 17, 2019 due to arrears in payment and requested that the vehicles be parked and returned. The management of the Städtebahn Sachsen redirected the telephone numbers to the VVO and exchanged the locks of the office rooms. The company's employees could no longer reach their workplaces and could not be available as contact persons.

On Sunday, July 28, 2019, the VVO exercised its extraordinary special right of termination and terminated the current transport contract with immediate effect. The terminated services in the VVO diesel network should be awarded directly to other railway companies as part of an emergency award "as soon as possible". To this end, talks took place on July 29, 2019 between the State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport (SMWA), the Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL), the works council of the Saxony urban railway and the VVO. The VVO announced that it had already made contact with "suitable" railway companies. On the part of the GDL it was demanded that in addition to the driving staff - for whom a legal regulation for the direct transfer of operations applies - also "the employees in administration and workshop receive a perspective". To finance an immediate reallocation of the transport services, the Free State of Saxony had promised an early payment of the regionalization funds.

On July 26, 2019, the city railway of Saxony, represented by the managing director Torsten Sewerin, filed for insolvency at the Aschaffenburg insolvency court. On July 29, 2019, the preliminary insolvency administration was ordered.

Under the direction of the insolvency administrator Stephan Laubereau, the Saxony urban railway resumed its business operations on August 19, 2019. Initially, however, only the lines RB 34 (Dresden – Kamenz) and RB72 (Heidenau – Kurort Altenberg) were served again. From September 2, 2019, trains will run again between Dresden-Neustadt and Ottendorf-Okrilla Süd.

On September 16, 2019, the association assembly of the VVO decided to award the emergency services to Transdev Regio Ost . The handover of operational railway operations and the takeover of the staff were completed on October 1, 2019.

On October 2, 2019, the company was due to the opening of insolvency proceedings resolved , she has since been in liquidation .

Transport services

Network of the Saxony urban railway from December 2016 to July 2019

The VVO contract comprised around 1.7 million train kilometers annually with several regional train lines in the Dresden area and in Saxon Switzerland . Until the timetable change in December 2016, the urban railway lines were designated as SB33, SB34, SB71, SB72 and SE19.

line Line route annotation
RB33 Dresden-Neustadt - Koenigsbrück
RB34 Dresden central station - Kamenz (Sachs)
RB71 Pirna - Neustadt (Sachs) - Bad Schandau From July 5, 2014 due to operating accommodate the line U28 (Děčín-Rumburk) on the relation Pirna- Sebnitz (Sachs) shortened
RB72 Heidenau - health resort Altenberg (Erzgeb)
RE19 Dresden Hbf - Heidenau - Altenberg (Erzgeb) health resort two pairs of trains as seasonal winter sports on weekends and public holidays in the winter half-year with favorable winter sports conditions, since December 2018 one pair of trains all year round as a hiking and winter sports express

vehicles

Desiro of the Saxony urban railway in Bad Schandau station (2013)

The city railway of Saxony never had its own vehicles. To provide the transport services, it had therefore rented 15 Siemens Desiro Classic diesel multiple units from Alpha Trains . Six of these railcars were named "Bierstadt Radeberg", " Rose von Sebnitz 2.0", "Lessingstadt Kamenz", "Uhrenstadt Glashütte", "Landeshauptstadt Dresden" and "Stadt Königsbrück" on various occasions . Another railcar carried advertising for the Müglitztalbahn.

Shortly after the start of operations at the end of 2010, since the vehicles to be used as planned were not yet available, various other leased trains, some of which were also hauled by locomotives, were used. From December 2011 to November 2012, the Saxony urban railway also used a rented LVT / S railcar as a replacement vehicle. A rented Talent railcar was also in use between November 2012 and December 2012 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Städtebahn Sachsen  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Städtebahn Sachsen GmbH, Niedernberg (iL). North Data GmbH, October 3, 2019, accessed on August 18, 2020 .
  2. ↑ NBE Regio becomes active in local rail transport. (PDF; 99 KB) NBE RAIL GmbH, October 9, 2010, archived from the original on September 3, 2014 ; accessed on August 30, 2014 .
  3. ↑ http://www.sonata-management.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/genehmigung_aeg.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.sonata-management.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/genehmigung_aeg.pdf
  5. ↑ Opening of the maintenance base for the Saxony urban railway. Städtebahn Sachsen GmbH, archived from the original on July 18, 2012 ; accessed on August 30, 2014 .
  6. ↑ EGP sells shares in Städtebahn Sachsen GmbH. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014 ; Retrieved June 4, 2013 .
  7. ↑ DB sentenced to repay four million euros . In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . October 2, 2014, ISSN  0232-3222 , p. 8 .
  8. ↑ Peter Weckbrodt: Urban tram is 99 percent on time . In: Dresdner Latest News . January 26, 2016, p. 15 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Fallen trees - Stadtebahn is examining legal steps. In: MDR.de. December 19, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2018 .
  10. ↑ DB Netz AG recommends the urban railway “Driving on sight”. In: LOK Report. January 15, 2018, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Reiner Hanke: When logs tip over onto the rails. In: Saxon newspaper. December 20, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2018 .
  12. ^ Sächsische Zeitung, Pirna edition of May 23, 2018
  13. ^ "Rail operations on schedule" on the SBS homepage.
  14. ↑ "Become a train driver with us and get your personal company car!" News on stadtebahn.de from September 21, 2018
  15. ↑ Information on customer compensation on vvo-online.de
  16. ↑ VVO press release of November 12, 2018
  17. ↑ Sächsische Städtebahn has completely stopped railway operations. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), July 25, 2019, accessed on July 25, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Fronts are hardened - vehicle rental company terminates vehicles. Städtebahn Sachsen ceases all operations. meidresden.de, July 25, 2019, accessed on July 26, 2019 .
  19. ↑ VVO regrets the discussion about blame. Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO), July 26, 2019, accessed on July 28, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Press release diesel network: VVO terminates transport contract
  21. ↑ Diesel network: Together for the future - discussions between SMWA, GDL, urban railway works council and the VVO
  22. ^ Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden edition of August 2, 2019
  23. ↑ Trouble doesn't stop: Städtebahn has filed for bankruptcy
  24. ↑ Press release of the PLUTA law firm from August 9, 2019
  25. ↑ VVO press release of August 22, 2019
  26. ↑ VVO press release of August 30, 2019
  27. ↑ VVO press release from September 16, 2019
  28. ↑ Press release of the VVO and transdev Regio Ost from September 30, 2019
  29. ↑ Announcement on Unternehmensregister.de
  30. ↑ Frank Oehl: More comfort in the “City of Königsbrück”. In: Saxon newspaper. April 25, 2018, accessed April 30, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Saxony: The railcar shows the best of the Müglitztal. In: lok-report.de. December 1, 2017, accessed November 13, 2018 .