It will take six months longer than planned until a new operator is found for the Frankenbahn. The tender for the route via Heilbronn has been delayed.
The deadline for the tender is postponed from December 2023 to June 2024, until then Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH (SWEG) will continue operations. However, this will not change anything for travelers on the route from Stuttgart via Heilbronn to Würzburg.
Delay due to Stuttgart 21
According to the Ministry of Transport, Stuttgart 21 is to blame. The commissioning of the new junction in the state capital should fall within the period of the contract to be awarded. However, this meant that complex replanning was necessary, which first had to be incorporated into the award documents. This took time; now they want to give all applicants sufficient time to submit their offer.
SWEG continues operations as an interim solution
SWEG Bahn Stuttgart GmbH (SBS) will continue to take over operations for the extension. SBS is a subsidiary of the state-owned SWEG and stepped in as an emergency solution when the original operator Abellio had to file for bankruptcy. The second operator Go-Ahead will remain on the route.
It is still unclear what the exact economic consequences of the postponement will be. The Ministry of Transport assumes that the current postponement will be sufficient. How many applicants there are for the route is secret.
It shouldn’t have any impact on passengers
Instead of the international timetable change in December 2023, the operator should now be ready for the “small timetable change” in June 2024. The delay should have no impact on general operations. Travelers should not notice the change because only the operator is changing, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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