Arverio Deutschland GmbH, with brand name Arverio, before July 2024 under the name Go-Ahead Verkehrsgesellschaft Deutschland GmbH, is a railway operator in Germany. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Austrian state-owned rail operator

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

, and was part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

-based

Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...

up till its sale to ÖBB was completed on 1 February 2024. Go-Ahead secured its first contract in the German rail market in November 2015 to operate several regional rail lines in the vicinity of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

; it took over services from the incumbent operator

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

(DB) on 9 June 2019. Multiple other contracts to operate other passenger services, such as in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

, have been awarded in the following years. Go-Ahead Deutschland has procured a mixed fleet of

Stadler FLIRT Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

s (EMUs) and

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

-built double-decker EMUs to operate these services.

History

In November 2015, Go-Ahead Deutschland was awarded its first rail contract in the Germany market by the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

public transport authority Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg from June 2019. Covering multiple regional rail lines around the city of

, the combined revenues generated were expected to reach roughly €1.6bn across the life of the contract, which covers operations between June 2019 and 2032. On 9 June 2019, operations commenced as contracted, taking over from the previous operator, the state-owned railway company

(DB). In response to gains by competing companies, DB reportedly launched efforts to reduce costs and retain as much of its profitable regional services as possible. Over the following years, Go-Ahead Deutschland pursued various other opportunities in the German rail sector. During June 2017, the company was awarded a separate contract to operate Network 3A ‘Murrbahn’ routes from December 2019 by Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg and the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n rail authority Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG). Under this contract, it operate services between Stuttgart and

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

, covering 1.3 million km per year, starting in December 2019 and ending in 2032. In August 2017, yet another contract was issued to Go-Ahead Deutschland for the operation of ‘E-Netz Allgäu’ regional trains between

and

by the Baden-Wurttemberg public transport authority and the Bavarian rail authority. This contract, which has a set timeframe of 12 years, covers six lines and 71 stations, was a significant expansion to Go-Ahead’s German rail business, which employed 1,000 people in Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg and comprises a fleet of 144 modern electric trains by the end of 2022, growing Go-Ahead’s total German rail business to annually cover 20 million train kilometres. Under the terms of the contact, Go-Ahead operates upon tracks, stations and signals owned and maintained by DB; in common with other third-party operators, Go-Ahead pays access fees for its use of the network to DB. On 12 October 2023 the purchase agreement for the acquisition of the company by

was signed, and the completion of the sales process is expected in 2023 after competition law approvals by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

(EC). The sale was completed on 1 February 2024 following approval from the EC. Trains on the network continue to use the Go-Ahead name in the short term.

Services

Rolling stock

To commence operations, Go-Ahead Deutschland placed an initial order for 45 newly-built

Stadler Flirt Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

electric multiple-units (EMUs) in May 2016. These trains are equipped with various amenities for the travelling public, including onboard free

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

, fully accessible carriages, and flexible areas for people travelling with

bike A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. B ...

s or

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

s. 28 Flirts have been stabled at a newly built depot in Essingen. In January 2019, in order to fulfil additional contracts, Go-Ahead ordered an additional 56

-built double-decker EMUs. Each set can provide up to 1,000 seats and are furnished with modern accessibility-friendly interiors. Their introduction in December 2022 provided a significant increase in seating capacity on heavily-trafficked commuter routes. In December 2020, it was announced that Go-Ahead Deutschland has selected the TMH International subsidiary of Transmashholding to maintain both EMU fleets operated by the company in southern Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. As a result of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Euco Rail acquired all assets of TMHI in Germany.

References

External links

Go-Ahead Baden-Württemberg
{{Authority control Companies based in Berlin Austrian Federal Railways Railway companies of Germany Railway companies established in 2019 Railway companies disestablished in 2024 2019 establishments in Germany 2024 disestablishments in Germany