TEE Rail Alliance

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The TEE Rail Alliance ( TEE ) was a cooperation between the railway companies Deutsche Bahn AG , Austrian Federal Railways and Swiss Federal Railways . On June 7, 2000, the contract for the establishment of the company was signed in Munich. The cooperation was called Trans Europe Excellence . The name is reminiscent of the former Trans Europ Express (TEE).

The aim of the cooperation, which has only been partially realized so far, is to harmonize international travel by rail between the three countries and to make it more pleasant for the customer, for example by harmonizing the tariffs on international connections and customer cards such as BahnCard , Halbtax and VORTEILScard are mutually recognized. The two frequent driver programs from DB ( bahn.bonus comfort and bahn.bonus ) and ÖBB ( Club & Bonus ) were also mutually recognized.

Joint tendering of tilting technology trains

At the beginning of 2001, the procurement of tilting technology trains was advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union and in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce . In parallel to the jointly appearing DB and ÖBB, the SBB tendered a selective negotiation process for the procurement of electric multiple units with tilting technology. The goal of the three partner railways was to acquire 116 such fully interoperable multiple units at the same conditions. 50 multiple units were accounted for by the DB, 34 by the SBB and 32 by the ÖBB. The contract should be awarded by the turn of the year 2001/2002. 44 trains should have been delivered by the beginning of December 2005, after which at least two trains per month. The procurement volume was estimated at 1.6 billion euros or 2.5 billion Swiss francs . The trains should be designed for a distance of about 400 kilometers.

The planned maximum speed was 200 to 230 km / h. Among other things, the trains should be capable of double traction and pressure-tight . With a maximum train length of 200 m, around 450 seats should be offered.

The DB wanted to use the trains - in addition to the order recently placed for 28 additional ICE T - primarily in domestic German traffic. The ÖBB wanted to use their trains in long-distance traffic on the Westbahn between Vienna and Munich and over the Arlberg to Zurich . The SBB wanted to use the trains for traffic to Italy and demanded - in contrast to DB and ÖBB - dual-system trains (15 kV alternating current / 3,000 V direct current), including Italian train radio and train protection .

The trains should be able to be coupled with the ICE T , but contrary to previous plans no longer with the ICE TD and the ICN . The previously planned re-ordering of existing trains (without new developments) had also been discarded until the beginning of 2001.

Siemens participated in the tender with the Venturio .

At the end of October 2001, the DB surprisingly announced to the companies offering it that it would withdraw from the negotiations, since all offers were too expensive and less economical than existing multiple units. ÖBB and SBB initially continued the negotiations alone. The ÖBB reduced the number of trains to be procured from 32 to 23 (plus an option to nine further trains), the SBB from 34 to 15 (plus an option to 17 further trains). Regardless of this, the joint efforts of the three railways in the marketing area (services, tariffs, advertising) continued.

In July 2002, the SBB also completed the project to procure 18 dual-system tilting trains for traffic between Zurich and Milan.

Another story

On February 25, 2004, DB and ÖBB signed a bilateral letter of intent to increase rail's market share in German-Austrian traffic. The strategic goals of the TEE Rail Alliance were thus concretized.

Ultimately, only collective agreements remained of the project. Bahncard and Half-Fare travelcard or general season ticket are recognized for cross-border journeys between DB and SBB with 25 percent each in the other country.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ TEE Rail Alliance: Alliance in international passenger transport . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 7/2000, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 316 f.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Tilting trains advertised for TEE alliance . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 3/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 132.
  3. ^ Wolfgang Fuchs, Jörn W. Mundt and Hans-Dieter Zollondz: Lexicon Tourism . Oldenbourg science publisher. Munich, 2008. P. 722. ISBN 978-34862-5069-5 .
  4. ↑ Timetable perspectives . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 4/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 186 f.
  5. ↑ Siemens Transportation Systems on the rise . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , Issue 8–9 / 2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 364 f.
  6. ↑ Message DB AG withdraws from TEE tilting train procurement . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 556.
  7. ^ Hans-Peter Lau: The international passenger traffic of the SBB at the beginning of the 21st century . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 2/2002, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 92 f.
  8. ↑ Daniel Forrer: The Swiss tilting train ICN and its entry into history . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 12/2004, ISSN  1421-2811 , pp. 558–566.
  9. ^ Announcement New impulses for rail traffic between Germany and Austria . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 4/2004, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 174.
  10. ↑ 'DB AG and SBB found marketing company “Rheinalp”'. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . Issue 3/2006, ISSN  1421-2811 , pp. 118-120.