Flixtrains, just about Deutsche Bahn’s only competitor for long-haul passengers in Germany has just done a deal with Germany’s regional rail operators to allow single-ticket connections to over 200 smaller German cities.
Flix, whose green buses are familiar all over Europe, runs its green trains on long-distance routes in Germany, connecting cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Flix hopes the deal will allow it to raise its share of the market above the single-digit percentage it now holds.
Ironically, most of the regional rail operations, the Regio trains, are contracted out to and operated by state-owned DB, which will now find itself partnered with its long-distance rival.