As of: January 31, 2024 6:15 p.m
The railway company metronom wants to terminate the contract for the Hanseatic network between Hamburg, Bremen and Göttingen early. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport announced this on Wednesday.
According to the ministry, the metronom company has recently found itself in a difficult economic situation. Sharply increased costs for energy and personnel, as well as a lack of skilled workers and problems in the route network have recently made metronom’s trains increasingly unreliable. At the end of December, metronom therefore asked the Lower Saxony State Local Transport Company (LNVG) to enter into negotiations to terminate the contract early in June 2026. The contract was originally supposed to run until the end of 2033. It is said that an early end is intended to limit further financial losses as much as possible. When asked, the railway company itself did not want to comment on internal company details.
Hanseatic network is to be divided
Now the LNVG wants to develop a new concept for the Hanseatic network. The Hanseatic network includes the routes Hamburg-Bremen, Hamburg-Lüneburg-Uelzen, Uelzen-Celle-Hannover and Hanover-Northeim-Göttingen. In the future, the network will be shared, said Carmen Schwabl from LNVG on Wednesday. This means that there will also be several operators for today’s Hanseatic network. “All providers can apply for all networks, but they can only win one,” says Schwabl. Metronom could also apply again. “Metronom has been a reliable partner in recent years,” said Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD).
AUDIO: Metronom wants to terminate the route contract for Hansenetz early (1 min)
Metronome employees are to be taken on
If other railway companies operate the routes in the future, metronom’s employees would have to take over. This is regulated by law, says Schwabl. Malte Diehl from the Pro Bahn passenger association in Lower Saxony still believes that metronom is no longer an attractive employer for the time being. “I fear that the staff shortage will increase in the next two years and that even more trains will be canceled,” said Diehl. In the short term, nothing will change for passengers.
Trains are scheduled to continue running until 2026
Representatives of the SPD and the Greens in the state parliament pay metronom respect for the request to terminate the contract. At the same time, there is also a requirement to ensure train operations until a new operator takes over. Metronom itself announced that it was confident that it would be able to guarantee reliable operation for the period up to 2026. There will already be a new replacement concept from February 4th. “We were able to reduce train cancellations by around 30 percent,” said metronom.
New contracts offer new opportunities
The aim of the LNVG is to hand over the rail network smoothly to new operators in 2026. This is also important for employees. Passenger representative Diehl also sees a new transport contract as an opportunity for better train operations. The LNVG could then also set new specifications as to how many trains should run on the routes, said Diehl. “For commuters, this can mean that more trains should run, especially at peak times.” According to the Ministry of Economics, around 80,000 travelers travel in the Hanseatic network every day.
Further information
The German Transport Club also reacted positively. The railway company based in Uelzen is having economic problems. more
However, due to a lack of staff, a replacement timetable continues to apply until the end of July. The offer therefore remains limited. (01/25/2024) more
The new timetable should actually offer more connections to and from Hamburg. But nothing comes of it. (December 5th, 2023) more
Due to personnel problems, 25 trips were canceled on Saturday alone. The state local transport company is putting pressure on us. (09/11/2023) more
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NDR Info | 01/31/2024 | 9:45 p.m