Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft

Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH is a German non-entirely-state-owned railway company[1] based in Uelzen, Lower Saxony since December 2005. The company's activities focus exclusively on passenger transport, operating services from Hamburg to Bremen, Uelzen, Wolfsburg and Lüneburg. Services listed on the timetables are abbreviated ME.

Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft
GmbH
IndustryRail transport
Headquarters
Uelzen, Lower Saxony
,
Germany
Key people
Wolfgang Birlin
Productstransport
Revenue200,000,000 euro (2016) 
€ 163.2 million (2009)
Owner
Number of employees
320
Websitewww.der-metronom.de

The company's logo, depicting a swinging pendulum, is often rendered in lower case as metronom (the German word Metronom literally meaning metronome).

History

At the end of the 1990s, the three participating States of Germany—Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen—agreed to replace Regional-Express services on the routes between Hamburg and Bremen and Hamburg-Uelzen operated by DB Regio with their own railway company.

The company was founded in February 2002 under the name of MetroRail. The ownership structure has remained unchanged and consists of three companies that represent the individual states and were based almost exclusively in the public domain. Specifically, these are the NiedersachsenBahn GmbH (69.9%), the BeNEX GmbH (25.1%) and the Bremer Straßenbahn AG (5.0%). The NiedersachsenBahn GmbH acts as an operating company and is a union of the railways Osthannoverschen AG (OHE) (60%), based in Celle and the railways and transport companies Elbe-Weser GmbH (Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser) (40%) of Zeven.

In autumn 2003, the company was renamed after a dispute with Metro AG and their current name and the logo were adopted. For 14 December 2003 the operation was established on the lines Hamburg-Bremen and Hamburg-Uelzen.

In April 2007, the majority of the OHE was sold, by the state of Lower Saxony, Germany and the DB Regio AG, after a bidding process to the British transport company Arriva Bachstein GmbH, in which the Arriva Germany GmbH is involved with 86%. As a result, Arriva indirectly controls 30.7% of the capital of the Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft and so is its largest shareholder.

Metronom doesn't own vehicles or maintenance resources. All locomotives and railway carriages are rented by the state transport company Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen mbH (LNVG) and are maintained in the depot of OHE Uelzen by personnel of the manufacturer Bombardier Inc. and the OHE. This depot was built specifically for the maintenance of the metronom trains and is located in the north of Uelzen, in the so-called Dannenberger Bogen. The maintenance of the trains by the Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser for the Lower Elbe Railway takes place in Bremervörde, for this the trains are transferred partly through the route of the former Buxtehude Harsefelder Eisenbahn and partly through the section of the Stade-Bremervörde Moor Express, at the latter three complete units coupled together.

With the monitoring and disposal of its trains, the railway company metronom has also mandated the OHE. From Celle the OHE staff controls around the clock the entire company operations and initiates appropriate measures to stop irregularities (e.g. delays, road closures, personnel failures, vehicle interference).

Operations

The company operates the following services.

Line Route Contract dates
RE 2 Uelzen – Celle – Hannover – Northeim – Göttingen December 2005 – December 2017
RE 3 Hamburg – Winsen – Lüneburg – Uelzen December 2010 – December 2018
RE 4 Hamburg – Tostedt – Rotenburg – Bremen December 2010 – December 2018
RE 5 Hamburg – Buxtehude – Stade – Cuxhaven December 2007 – December 2018
RE 30 Hannover - Lehrte - Gifhorn - Wolfsburg December 2015 – December 2025
RE 50 Hildesheim - Braunschweig - Wolfsburg December 2015 – December 2025
RB 31 Hamburg – Winsen – Lüneburg December 2010 – December 2018
RB 41 Hamburg – Tostedt – Rotenburg – Bremen December 2010 – December 2018

Fleet
Class Image Cars per set Type Top speed Number Builder Built
km/h mph
146 N/A Electric locomotive 160 99 29 Bombardier TRAXX 2005-2010
246 N/A Diesel locomotive 160 99 8 Bombardier TRAXX 2007
ET 1440 4 Electric multiple unit 160 99 20 Alstom Coradia Continental 2015

Names of Metronom locomotives
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References
  1. metronom (July 11, 2011). "PRESSEINFORMATION: GDL streikt trotz Schlichtungsangebot" (PDF). metronom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
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