Die Länderbahn

After German Reunification in 1990, there was a sharp drop in passenger numbers on the rail network in all the new Bundesländer. Saxony, and thus Vogtland, was no exception. The railways had old rolling stock and could not compete with rapidly improving roads. The Saxon government invested in an attempt to improve the attractiveness of the Zwickau–Falkenstein–Klingenthal line and the Herlasgrün–Falkenstein–Adorf (timetable route 539). The track was relaid to an 80 km/h standard, disabled access was facilitated at all stations and new stations opened. Maintenance and tracks were rationalised. Some platforms were removed, some stations such as Schöneck were restyled as halts.

One component of the project model was the reallocation of the public transport services within the framework of a competitive environment. In addition to new vehicles, timetables and optimised transfer connections between the transport modes were required. In response to an invitation to tender published in September 1994, the contract was won by Regental-Bahnbetriebs-GmbH from Viechtach, Bavaria. After the completion of the redevelopment measures, operations started on 23 November 1997. On 1 January 1998, Vogtlandbahn was acquired by Regental-Bahnbetriebs-GmbH and operated as an independent company under the umbrella of the Länderbahn group. In contrast to the trains formerly operated by Deutsche Bahn, services have been well used since Vogtlandbahn took over the company. Therefore, it began construction of its own locomotive depot in Neumark in the spring of 1998, which was opened after two years of construction on 4 July 2000. The locomotive depot in Reichenbach that had been used previously was no longer needed.

"Zwickau Model"

A further success is the extension of the network into Zwickau town centre. Following the example set by the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, the lines extend from Zwickau Hauptbahnhof to the central markets. As most of the Vogtland network has not been electrified, the train-trams do not use current from the tram wires (as in Karlsruhe) but are driven by diesel engines. Between the Hauptbahnhof and Stadthall there was a link that could be reactivated. From there to Zentrum the train and the tram use the same tracks. To do this, dual-gauge track has been laid; there are three rails, the tram uses metre gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in), and the Vogtlandbahn uses standard gauge, 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). An extra rail was laid next to the tram line so that they share one rail and each use one of the others as appropriate. Since the tramway was only built at this time, a third track and a larger distance between the tracks could be planned from the start, making the retrofitting possible. The diesel sets run on the common route under BOStrab procedures, so they were equipped with indicators and brake lights. Because of their breadth, however, they do not operate with road traffic; Äußere Schneeberger Straße is largely closed to car traffic. However, the area used by the tracks can be used by rescue vehicles and rail replacement buses.

Expansion outside of Saxony

In the years that followed Vogtlandbahn had many opportunities to bid for further routes to expand its network. From their core routes in the Vogtland they moved over into Bavaria and Thuringia, with lines to Hof, Schleiz and Gera. When the Czech Republic became a candidate for European Union membership a new market opened. In 2000, after a 55-year gap, the Zwickau–Klingenthal line was reconnected to Kraslice (Graslitz). In 2003 it connected to Sokolov (Falkenau) on the Czech Chomutov–Cheb railway.

On 14 December 2003, Vogtlandbahn secured an agreement with DB Regio AG to use the Gera–Weida–Zeulenroda–Mehltheuer line and thus started a general traffic service on the Elstertalbahn between Gera, Greiz and Weischlitz, which previously had required a change. Following the extension of the Zwickau–Plauen–Bad Brambach line over the Czech border to Cheb (German: Eger) and thus Marktredwitz in Bavaria, the Plauen-Hof service was extended through Marktredwitz and Weiden (10 June 2001) to Regensburg (15 December 2002).

At the timetable change on 8 December 2006, Vogtlandbahn had to give up the operation of a service for the first time. Traffic had not increased between Schönberg and Schleiz, so that the Thuringian local transport authority was not willing to extend the contract for the operation. There was no connection with the reduction in the support for regionalisation measures, which had been decided a few months earlier, since the end of the service was already anticipated. On the other hand, Vogtlandbahn would gain new services in the north-east of Bavaria. Vogtlandbahn operated Regionalbahn services on behalf of DB Regio Nordostbayern from December 2006 until the takeover of the Dieselnetz Oberfranken (upper Fancononia diesel network) by agilis in June 2011 on the (Hof –) Münchberg–Helmbrechts and Lichtenfels–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg routes, partly together with Deutsche Bahn, but also by itself.

Sale

Finally, in autumn 2004 Bavaria sold its final stake in the Länderbahn to the British-owned Arriva group, who already owned the Prignitz railway in Brandenburg. This made them the second largest railway company in Germany. After Arriva was bought by Deutsche Bahn in 2010, the business had to be resold to preserve competition. The new owners were the Italian state railways (Ferrovie dello Stato) together with Luxembourg infrastructure fund Cube. The German parent company has been called Netinera since March 2011.

Re-tender

The core network of Vogtlandbahn in the Vogtlandkreis, west Saxony and east Thuringia was re-tendered by the transport authority in the spring of 2010. The tendered Vogtland network includes the Hof–Falkenstein–Adorf, Mariánské Lázne–Plauen ob Bf–Zwickau Zentrum, Weischlitz–Gera and Zwickau Zentrum–Kraslice lines with an annual 3.16 million train-kilometres. Vogtlandbahn won the contract in September 2010, so the traffic in the Vogtland will continue to be operated by this company from December 2012 to December 2027. Regio-Shuttles, Desiros and RegioSprinters are used for these operations. The brand name in the core network is vogtlandbahn (in lower case), despite the renaming of the company as Die Länderbahn.

Network

In the current timetable, many lines are operated by the Länderbahn (under the brand names of vogtlandbahn, alex, waldbahn, oberpfalzbahn and trilex):

Between Zwickau, Falkenstein and Klingenthal, Kraslice, as well as between Falkenstein and Plauen, the trains usually operate hourly. On weekends, services on these sections of line, operate every two hours.

Since the timetable change on 14 December 2014, services of the Länderbahn operate on the Dresden–Görlitz and Dresden–Zittau (–Liberec) lines. These routes were previously operated by DB Regio Südost. In March 2014, ZVON announced that Länderbahn would operate these services as part so-called Ostsachsennetz (East Saxon Network) under the brand name of Trilex. The Regional-Express lines have since been designated as TLX1 and 2 and the Regionalbahn lines have been designated as TL60 and 61. The previous Trilex line has since been called TL70.

Lines VB 3 and VB 8 have been operated since the timetable change of 14 December 2014 by the associated company, Regentalbahn, which won the Regionalzüge Ostbayern contract of the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft in 2011.