Railroad Development Corporation ends operating agreement with Flixtrain (DE)

[jamesontheroad]

The IRJ is reporting today that BahnTouristikExpress, a subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation, are ending their operating relationship with Flixtrain. RDC blames Flixtrain for using the COVID-19 conditions for a "fundamental reversal" of the operating structure.

In the letter to employees, Hunkel says that RDC attempted to negotiate a new partnership but that “unfortunately … FlixTrain was not willing to compromise, and informed us accordingly. The end of the collaboration between BTE and FlixTrain is therefore inevitable.”

“FlixMobility wanted to change the previously agreed setup and basis of our partnership,” Hunkel told IRJ. “The changes included a fundamental reversal of the agreed structure of the partnership, including questions around our own value-added share, fleet and cost of operation. We could not have ensured sustainable rail operations on this basis. The search for a compromise failed. RDC never anticipated that Covid-19 would serve as an opportunity to restructure any of our partnerships in any other businesses around the world.

Which Flixtrain routes does RDC operate? Is it just the former Hamburg/Köln express? What proportion of Flixtrain routes are now without an operator?

 

[Struner]

It seems the journalist didn’t approach flixtrain for comment? - sloppy.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Here’s a German blog reporting the same story but with a bit more colour. (Google Chrome/Translate can translate from German).

It seems Flixtrain have screwed themselves over in this process. Without BTE, they lack an operator and rolling stock for their key services. Meanwhile their other operator Leo Express is in financial trouble. What is a train company without trains? I was always perplexed by Flixtrain’s self-inflated hype... their IP consists of a booking engine and not much else.

 

[RT4038]

Here’s a German blog reporting the same story but with a bit more colour. (Google Chrome/Translate can translate from German).

It seems Flixtrain have screwed themselves over in this process. Without BTE, they lack an operator and rolling stock for their key services. Meanwhile their other operator Leo Express is in financial trouble. What is a train company without trains? I was always perplexed by Flixtrain’s self-inflated hype... their IP consists of a booking engine and not much else.

They take the financial risk (or the bulk of) of the operation, which I would say is quite important. What is the good of rolling stock with no services to run them on?
Whatever the story, I suggest that both companies need each other?

 

[CC 72100]

They take the financial risk (or the bulk of) of the operation, which I would say is quite important. What is the good of rolling stock with no services to run them on?
Whatever the story, I suggest that both companies need each other?

I'm guessing that Flixtrain have basically took their coach model directly to the rails, given that a lot of the European low-cost coach operators actually don't own their vehicles, more so contract local operators to run the services for them (to a tight specification) with revenue split between the 'brand' and the local operator.

The only problem is, I suppose there are far less potential operators in the rail world and suitable stock, crew and competence takes a lot longer to train than on the buses...