Vlexx

Last updated November 08, 2022

Vlexx GmbH (stylized in lowercase in its logo) is a rail transport company based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and a subsidiary of the Regentalbahn, which in turn has been part of the Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) since 2011 via its parent company Netinera. Vlexx operates local rail passenger transport exclusively with diesel railcars in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse as well as a connection to France on the Winden-Wissembourg railway line into the Alsace to the railway station of Wissembourg.

The company

The company's name was DNSW when it was founded in 2012 and derived from the route network, the diesel network southwest, whose cornerstones are the Rhineland-Palatinate cities of Mainz, Koblenz, Worms, Kaiserslautern and Idar-Oberstein as well as Saarbrücken in the Saarland and Frankfurt am Main in Hesse. On weekends in the summer season there is also a train pair to Wissembourg in Alsace.

From the outset, the DNSW name was intended only as a temporary solution. In a name competition in January 2014, the public was able to participate in the naming process. In order to underline a regional reference of the company, a suitable name was sought. The choice fell on vlexx, der Vier-Länder-Express (vlexx, the four-country express).^[1]

History

Invitation to tender for the diesel network

At the end of February 2012, the Regentalbahn was selected by the Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Süd (ZSPNV Süd) as the winner of the Dieselnetz Südwest - Los 2 tender. Since the 2014/2015 regular timetable change on 14 December 2014, the company has been operating the Mainz-Alzey-Kirchheimbolanden, Frankfurt-Mainz-Bad Kreuznach-Idar-Oberstein-Saarbrücken (Regional-Express services), Mainz-Bad Kreuznach-Kaiserslautern (a Regional-Express train pair during peak working hours) and Mainz-Idar-Oberstein-Baumholder/Neubrücke (Nahe) lines for 22.5 years until June 2037. In December 2016, an additional Regional-Express line was introduced on the Kaiserslautern-Bad Kreuznach-Bingen-Koblenz route, which means that 6.4 million train-kilometres per year now have to be covered.^[2] The diesel network southwest contains non-electrified main and secondary railways in Rhineland-Palatinate and connects the Rhenish Hesse, Nahe, Western Palatinate and Saarland regions in particular with the Rhine-Main region and the centres of Mainz, Rüsselsheim am Main and Frankfurt am Main as well as Frankfurt Airport.

A total of 63 LINT 54 and LINT 81 diesel railcars are used for train services.^[3]^[4] In the meantime, Regentalbahn founded DNSW, a subsidiary to which the provision of services was transferred. The DNSW was later renamed vlexx as part of a competition.^[1] The first new vlexx trains have been running since July 2014 on the future operating routes on a trial basis.^[5]

Problems during the start of operations

On 27 November 2014 it became known that vlexx did not have enough train drivers to operate all train services at the timetable change 2014/2015. The former operator of the train services, DB Regio, was therefore commissioned by vlexx to operate individual train services.^[6]

When the operation started on 15 December 2014, there were massive train cancellations and, in some cases, delays lasting several hours. As a result, an emergency timetable was published on 17 December with which only about 50% of all train services were served.^[7] In addition, the managing directors were dismissed and replaced by Arnulf Schuchmann, the managing director of ODEG, which is also partly owned by Netinera.^[8] On 6 January 2015, the emergency timetable was extended in stages so that from 12 January about 90% of all train services could be served again.^[9] Since the beginning of March 2015, all contractually agreed connections have been served.^[10] This includes in particular the reactivated line between Heimbach and Baumholder, which was only served by a replacement bus.

After Vlexx took over the last service from DB Regio (Bodenheim-Kaiserslautern services) on 1 July 2015 with a six-month delay, train cancellations occurred again due to a lack of personnel. This affected five connections that were taken over by DB Regio and Transregio during the summer holidays in Rhineland-Palatinate or were completely cancelled.^[11]

Tender of the E-Netz Saar

On January 9, 2017, the Ministry of Economy, Labour, Energy and Transport of the Saarland announced that vlexx had won Los 2 of the E-Netz Saar-RB, comprising 2.3 million train kilometers. The RB lines Saarbrücken-Neubrücke (Nahe), Saarbrücken-Neunkirchen (Saar)-Homburg and Homburg-Illingen will then be operated by the company. These are to be served by 21^[12] Talent 3 electric railcars. The currently still non-electrified line from Saarbrücken to Lebach-Jabach is also included in the tender lot. This line will initially be operated with Desiro Classic diesel railcars, electrification is planned for 2024, and from then on Talent 3 electric railcars will also be operated there. As an alternative, the use of a battery electric multiple-unit train based on the Talent 3 is planned.^[13]

Network


Line	Route	Frequency	Material
RE 2	Koblenz Hauptbahnhof – Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof – Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81
RE 3	Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof – Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Idar-Oberstein – Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof		LINT 54 LINT 81
RE 4	Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof – Frankfurt-Höchst – Mainz Hauptbahnhof	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81
RE 13	Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof – Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Alzey – Kirchheimbolanden		LINT 54 LINT 81
RE 15	Bodenheim – Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Bad Kreuznach – Kaiserslautern Hauptbahnhof	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81
RE 17	Koblenz Hauptbahnhof – Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof – Bad Kreuznach – Kaiserslautern Hauptbahnhof		LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 31	Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Alzey – Kirchheimbolanden		LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 33	(Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof–/Worms Hauptbahnhof–/Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof–) Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Bad Kreuznach – Idar-Oberstein		LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 34	Kirn – Idar-Oberstein – Baumholder		LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 35	Worms Hauptbahnhof – Alzey – Bingen (Rhein) Stadt	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 44	Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Bodenheim – Worms Hauptbahnhof	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81
RB 53	Neustadt (Weinstraße) Hauptbahnhof – Wissembourg	individual services	LINT 54 LINT 81

Excursion trains


Line	Route	Frequency	Material	Image
Weinstraßen-Express	Koblenz Hauptbahnhof – Bad Kreuznach – Neustadt (Weinstraße) Hauptbahnhof – Wissembourg	April until October	LINT 54 LINT 81
Elsass-Express	Mainz Hauptbahnhof – Alzey – Neustadt (Weinstraße) Hauptbahnhof – Wissembourg	April until October	LINT 54 LINT 81

Contracting authorities and transport associations

The contracting authorities and transport associations of Vlexx for these services are:

Rhineland-Palatinate, the Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Nord (SPNV-Nord) as well as the Zweckverband Schienenpersonennahverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Süd (ZSPNV Süd)
Hesse, the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV)
Saarland, the Ministry of Economy, Labour, Energy and Transport

The vlexx lines operate in the transport associations Rhein-Main (RMV), Rhein-Nahe (RNN), saarVV, Rhein-Neckar (VRN) and Rhein-Mosel (VRM).

Related Research Articles

Rhineland-Palatinate is a western state of Germany. It covers 19,846 km² (7,663 sq mi) and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Koblenz, Trier, Kaiserslautern, Worms and Neuwied. It is bordered by North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse and by the countries France, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Hoppstädten-Weiersbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Mörschied is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.

Rötsweiler-Nockenthal is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Weitersbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.

Schauren is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.

Siesbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town.

The Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway is a railway in the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland that runs through Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Kaiserslautern, Homburg and St. Ingbert. It is the most important railway line that runs through the Palatinate. It serves both passenger and freight transport and carries international traffic.

The North Palatine Uplands, sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands, is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palatinate region. It is part of the Saar-Nahe Uplands.

Worms Hauptbahnhof is, along with Worms Pfeddersheim station, one of two operational passenger stations in the Rhenish Hesse city of Worms, Germany. The station with its pedestrian underpass is also an essential link between the eastern and the western parts of central Worms. Every day it is used by about 15,000 people.

The Nahe Valley Railway is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway Company and connects Bingen am Rhein on the Left Rhine line with Saarbrücken. It was opened between 1858 and 1860 and is one of the oldest railways in Germany. The section south of Bad Kreuznach is part of the regionally important transport corridor between the two major cities of Mainz and Saarbrücken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neustadt (Weinstraße) Hauptbahnhof</span>

Neustadt (Weinstr) Hauptbahnhof – called Neustadt a/d. Haardt until 1935 and from 1945 until 1950 – is the central station of in the city of Neustadt in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to the Hauptbahnhof, Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn services stop at Neustadt (Weinstr) Böbig halt (Haltepunkt). Mußbach station and Neustadt (Weinstr) halt, opened on 19 November 2013, are also located in Neustadt.

The Heimbach (Nahe)–Baumholder Railway was opened in 1912. It was formerly used exclusively for freight and military transport, but passenger services were reactivated in February 2015. It links to the Nahe Valley Railway west of Heimbach (Nahe).

Bad Münster am Stein station is a station at a railway junction in Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg, a district of Bad Kreuznach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The station building, dating from about 1910, is protected as a monument. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station. The station is located in the network of the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund and belongs to fare zone 401. Its address is: Berliner Straße 20.

The Saar-Nahe Hills or Saar-Nahe Uplands is a major natural region in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland. The region of hills and mountains covers an area of 4,185 km² running from Saarbrücken, Kaiserslautern and the Palatine Forest in the south to the Hunsrück in the northeast. It contains the catchment area of the Nahe as far as Bad Kreuznach as well as small sections of the Middle Saar in the west.

Alzey station is, along with the stations Alzey Süd and Alzey West, one of three stations in the urban area of the Rhenish Hesse town of Alzey in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alsenz Valley Railway</span>

The Alsenz Valley Railway is a line that runs from Hochspeyer via Winnweiler and Alsenz to Bad Munster am Stein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The line closely follows the Alsenz river from the Enkenbach district and crosses it several times. It was originally built primarily as a long-distance route, but it has lost this function since 1990 and is now exclusively used for local transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staudernheim station</span>

Staudernheim station is a through station, located 35.3 km from Bingen on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken), in Staudernheim in the district of Bad Kreuznach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was opened with this line on 15 December 1859 and was the first and only station in the Meisenheim exclave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, which was absorbed by Prussia in 1866. The station is located in the network area of the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund and it is in fare zone 420. Its address is Bahnhofstraße 1.

Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH was a German transport company based in Limburg an der Lahn. In 2004, it took over the operation of a regional rail network located in the Lahn valley, the Westerwald and the Taunus, which is called the Westerwald-Taunus network. The operations of the network focused on Limburg. In 2014, the contract for these services were awarded to its main shareholder, Hessische Landesbahn (HLB) and Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft was subsequently taken over by HLB.

Neubrücke (Nahe) station is a station in the town of Neubrücke (Nahe) in the municipality of Hoppstädten-Weiersbach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is on the Nahe Valley Railway (Nahetalbahn) and was the terminus of the Birkenfeld District Railway to the district seat of Birkenfeld from 1880 to 1991. It was opened with the extension of the Nahe Valley Railway from Idar-Oberstein to Neunkirchen (Saar) on 26 May 1860.

References

1 2 Vlexx-Website: Vlexx – der neue Zug für den Südwesten. Pressemitteilung 20 March 2014, retrieved 19 November 2014 (PDF-Datei, 203 kB)
↑ "vlexx GmbH". vlexx.de.
↑ "Rheinland-Pfalz-Takt an der Nahe, in Rheinhessen und der Pfalz wird verbessert". ZSPNV Süd. 2012-02-29.
↑ "Kaufvertrag über DNSW-Fahrzeuge auf der InnoTrans in Berlin abgeschlossen". vlexx.de. 2012-09-20. Archived from the original on 2014-11-13.
↑ "Neue Vlexx-Züge starten zu Testfahrten". vlexx.de. 2014-07-11. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Vlexx ist nur bedingt abfahrbereit – Personalmangel beim privaten Bahnbetreiber. Allgemeine Zeitung 27 November 2014.
↑ "Vlexx: Viele Einzelprobleme führten offenbar zum Systemkollaps", Online-Ausgabe der Rhein-Zeitung 16 December 2014, retrieved 10 January 2015.
↑ Chefwechsel nach vlexx Fehlstart SWR Nachrichten 23 December 2014.
↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Zugverkehr normalisiert sich. Allgemeine Zeitung 13 January 2015.
↑ vlexx fährt wieder normal – Startschwierigkeiten überwunden 23 January 2015 auf swr.de
↑ Notprogramm für ausfallende vlexx-Züge während der rheinland-pfälzischen Sommerferien. Zweckverband SPNV
↑ "Bombardier und vlexx unterzeichnen Vertrag über die Lieferung von 21 TALENT 3 Zügen für den Betrieb im Saarland". Bombardier Transportation. 2017-03-31.
↑ "Entscheidung im Vergabeverfahren Elektro-Netz Saar RB". Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Energie und Verkehr. 2017-01-09. Archived from the original on 2017-01-12.

External links

Official website (in German)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Vlexx200314-1] 1 2 Vlexx-Website: Vlexx – der neue Zug für den Südwesten. Pressemitteilung 20 March 2014, retrieved 19 November 2014 (PDF-Datei, 203 kB)

[2] "vlexx GmbH". vlexx.de.

[3] "Rheinland-Pfalz-Takt an der Nahe, in Rheinhessen und der Pfalz wird verbessert". ZSPNV Süd. 2012-02-29.

[4] "Kaufvertrag über DNSW-Fahrzeuge auf der InnoTrans in Berlin abgeschlossen". vlexx.de. 2012-09-20. Archived from the original on 2014-11-13.

[5] "Neue Vlexx-Züge starten zu Testfahrten". vlexx.de. 2014-07-11. Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.

[6] Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Vlexx ist nur bedingt abfahrbereit – Personalmangel beim privaten Bahnbetreiber. Allgemeine Zeitung 27 November 2014.

[7] "Vlexx: Viele Einzelprobleme führten offenbar zum Systemkollaps", Online-Ausgabe der Rhein-Zeitung 16 December 2014, retrieved 10 January 2015.

[8] Chefwechsel nach vlexx Fehlstart SWR Nachrichten 23 December 2014.

[9] Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Zugverkehr normalisiert sich. Allgemeine Zeitung 13 January 2015.

[10] vlexx fährt wieder normal – Startschwierigkeiten überwunden 23 January 2015 auf swr.de

[11] Notprogramm für ausfallende vlexx-Züge während der rheinland-pfälzischen Sommerferien. Zweckverband SPNV

[12] "Bombardier und vlexx unterzeichnen Vertrag über die Lieferung von 21 TALENT 3 Zügen für den Betrieb im Saarland". Bombardier Transportation. 2017-03-31.

[13] "Entscheidung im Vergabeverfahren Elektro-Netz Saar RB". Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Energie und Verkehr. 2017-01-09. Archived from the original on 2017-01-12.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]