The DB autozug gmbh based in dortmund, was a subsidiary of DB fernverkehr and marketed the car and night trains of DB mobility logistics. DB autozug also operated the car trains niebull-westerland (syltshuttle) and the shipping and island railroad wangerooge.
On 30. September 2013, the DB Autozug company was dissolved and merged with DB Fernverkehr AG. [2] the train categories AZ (autozug) and CNL (city night line) continued to exist until december 2016 and were operated by DB fernverkehr.
Table of contents
History
The motorail business under the brand name of auto train controlled the company already since the beginning of the year 1997. The company took over at the change of timetable on 30. may 1999, all night services of deutsche bahn, [3] with the brands vacation express and DB night train . From 2002 until its dissolution in 2013, DB Autozug operated its trains as a railroad company under its own management. On 1. January 2003, the economic responsibility for the euronight and D-night trains was also transferred to DB autozug.
The DB night train and the vacation express have been in service since the timetable change on 9. December 2007 under the new "city night line" brand. At the same time, the number of car trains (over the entire timetable period) was reduced from around 1,200 to around 920 trains. Four out of nine car train loading stations were closed. According to the company, mainly short, uneconomical routes were abandoned. [4] In 2007, the company carried 183 passengers.000 vehicles and generated sales of 60 million euros in the process. For vacation travel by passenger car, the company’s market share was less than 0.5 percent. About 70 percent of customers are regulars, a quarter of them were pensioners. The customers had above-average incomes. [5]
For the 2008 season, the service was further reduced to. In germany, the terminal in troisdorf has been closed down. livorno (italy), frejus (france) and rijeka (croatia) have been dropped from the destinations list. The train from hamburg and hildesheim to salzburg was shortened to munich. In alessandria (italy) and trieste (italy), on the other hand, new terminals were put into operation. [6]
At the 2010 timetable change in december 2009, the Talgo sleeping cars used jointly by Autozug and City Night Line were replaced by conventional DB Autozug cars. [7]
The night trains were operated until 31. December 2009, the DB Autozug was operated by its sister company, City Night Line CNL AG, based in Zurich (Switzerland). To the 1. January 2010, the entire business, which comprises the operation of night trains including all related active and passive, was taken over by DB autozug gmbh in dortmund. The product name city night line remained, the head office in switzerland became a branch office. With the 2012 winter timetable, connections to bozen, verona, trieste, alessandria, innsbruck, schwarzach-St. Veith and avignon from berlin-wannsee were discontinued. In accordance with a resolution passed by the Board of Management, DB Autozug was. Disbanded in September 2013 and merged into DB fernverkehr. [2]
At the end of 2014, DB fernverkehr announced that it did not see any economic prospects for classic car trains due to declining demand and high costs resulting from an upcoming renewal of the vehicle fleet, and that it would discontinue their operation by 2017. In 2013, 200.000 passengers use DB Autozug, 80 percent of them in the summer months. The hildesheim terminal was closed with the timetable change. As an alternative, the "auto+train" product was tested on the berlin-munich and dusseldorf-munich routes, with the cars being transported by truck. Each truck held six to seven passenger cars. [8]
At the timetable change in december 2016, the car trains of deutsche bahn were completely discontinued. One exception is the sylt shuttle , which continues to operate.
Auto Train Terminals
- germany: berlin-wannsee, dusseldorf, hamburg-altona, lorrach and munich-east (owned by DB station& service AG ) as well as the two terminals in niebull and westerland (also suitable for trucks), which DB autozug owned itself
- France: narbonne
- Italy: alessandria and bozen
- Austria: innsbruck, schwarzach, villach and vienna
For the operation between niebull and westerland, DB autozug offered the sylt shuttle with transport wagons built for this operation, the "westerland units". DB fernverkehr is currently responsible for this service.
In october 2010, the federal network agency, which also oversees competition in the rail infrastructure sector, ordered DB autozug to establish terms of use for the loading stations it operates in niebull and westerland. These terms of use allow DB autozug’s competitors to also use the loading stations and thus to also operate car trains on the hindenburg dam. DB Autozug filed an objection to this decision with the Federal Network Agency and wanted to use the summary proceedings before the administrative court to ensure that it would not have to allow any competition at the loading stations until the matter had been finally resolved by the courts. However, the court rejected this urgent application. The car loading stations in niebull and westerland are service facilities that can also be used by competitors, the judges ruled. The court considered the order to be lawful and did not see any special interests of DB Autozug that could exceptionally have led to not having to comply with the order immediately. [9] as reported by the radio station NDR 1 welle nord on 23. As reported on December 2010, DB Autozug appealed against the decision to the Higher Administrative Court in Munster. [10] on 20. January 2011 the higher administrative court in munster ruled that DB autozug must set conditions for how the loading terminals can be shared by other providers. [11]
Former car loading points 1984/85: bremen, hannover, hagen-kabel, holzwickede, karlsruhe-durlach, kassel, koln-deutz (tief), kornwestheim-pbf, lindau-reutin, munchen ost, munster (westf), nurnberg-dutzendteich, saarbrucken, siegen-weidenau, sonthofen, wurzburg