Passenger train services • Regional line services / Ticketing • Private regional operators • Germany • Meridian (BOB)

Note: For educational purpose only. This page is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. It is not a substitute for the official page of the operating company, manufacturer or official institutions. It cannot be used for staff training, which is the responsibility of approved institutions and companies.

Regular route

Ammersee-Altmühltal:

• RB 14: Ingolstadt – Eichstätt
• RB 13: Augsburg – Ingolstadt
• RB 67: A.-Oberhausen – Schongau
• RB 83: Augsburg Hbf – Gessertshausen

Ostallgäu-Lechfeld:

• RB 77: Augsburg – Füssen
• RB 69: Augsburg – Landsberg (Lech)
• RB 68: München – Füssen

Oberland:

• RB 55: München – Bayrischzell
• RB 56: München – Lenggries
• RB 57: München – Tegernsee

Chiemgau-Inntal:

• RE 5: München – Salzburg
• RB 54: München – Kufstein
• RB 58: München – Holzkirchen – Rosenheim

Berchtesgaden-Ruhpolding:

• S 4: Freilassing – Berchtesgaden
• RB 53: Traunstein – Ruhpolding

Rolling stock (past and present)

We have included only a few examples of rolling stock here. For a more comprehensive list, please visit our rolling stock page.

ET 300 (UIC-D 1428)
Stadler Flirt 3
2013 – …

Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH leases from Alpha Train seven three-car Stadler Flirt 3 trainsets and 28 six-car trainsets, classified as ET300. Since 2013, BRB has been operating services on the Rosenheimer Kreuz (ROX) network, including a cross-border connection to Salzburg in Austria. They previously operated under the ‘Meridian’ brand on behalf of Veolia and subsequently Transdev.

VT620/622/1648
Alstom LINT 41/54/81
2018 – …

BRB operates a fleet of 97 Alstom LINT trains, which entered service between 2018 and 2022. The fleet comprises LINT 41s (VT 1648), non-articulated LINT 54s (VT 622) and a small fleet of five non-articulated LINT 81s (VT 620). A large proportion of these operate on the Ostallgäu-Lechfeld network and in the Augsburg area.

Organisation of regional rail transport in Bavaria

Germany’s regional railway policy dates back to the 1994 Bahnreform (railway reform), which restructured Deutsche Bahn and, effective 1 January 1996, transferred responsibility for local and regional passenger rail (SPNV) from the federal government to the individual Länder (states) — a process called “Regionalisierung.” Bavaria responded by founding the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG) in 1995, a government-owned GmbH wholly owned by the so called ‘Free State of Bavaria’, to organize local passenger rail transport. The BEG doesn’t operate trains itself — it plans routes, contracts operators, and ensures quality, notably introducing the “Bayern-Takt” clockface schedule in 1996.

Today the BEG is Germany’s largest SPNV authority, investing about €1.6 billion annually. Currently 14 railway transport companies operate SPNV services in Bavaria — more than in any other German state. The Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) plans, finances and oversees operations on behalf of the Free State. In return, the railway operators receive funding from the BEG.

Together with the revenue from ticket sales – which is allocated according to a complex system – the railway operators, such as BRB, then finance their own operations. However, if the required quality standards are not met, penalty charges are incurred. This leaves the transport operators short of funds in their own coffers, from which they must finance rolling stock, wages and salaries, train paths and much more. Incidentally, as a rule of thumb, transport operators are financed roughly half by fare revenue, with the other half coming from the BEG. However, this depends on the type of contract.

Local authorities and transport companies are also key players. Districts and independent cities share responsibility for local public transport (ÖPNV); in addition to rail-based transport, such as suburban rail services, this also includes buses. Transport associations are established across city and district boundaries; well-known examples include the MVV (Munich Transport and Tariff Association), the AVV (Augsburg Transport and Tariff Association) and the VGI (Greater Ingolstadt Transport Association), with the aim of pooling resources at a regional level, exploiting synergies and creating a seamless, inter-city and inter-municipal public transport network.

In the diagram below, which may seem complex, the BRB is clearly shown on the far right:

1998 – Expansion of the BOB

Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (BOB) was founded at the end of March 1998 as a consortium formed by the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (DEGV) and the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn, and was granted its railway operating licence in March 1998. BOB GmbH was the first private railway company in Bavaria to be awarded a transport contract and commenced operations in November 1998.

In 2012, the BEG issued a call for tenders for the operation of the Bavarian Oberland lines for the period from December 2013 to December 2024. DB Regio, which had initially submitted a joint bid with BOB GmbH, withdrew its bid in May 2012, and BOB was awarded the contract for this network. Thanks to this transport contract, rail traffic on the Bavarian Oberland network has increased by approximately 12 per cent in train-kilometres since mid-December 2013. In the same year, BOB was commissioned to operate services between Munich, Salzburg and Kustein under the name ‘Meridian’ (see below).

2008 – Birth of BRB

The Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB) traces its origins to Veolia Verkehr, part of the French Veolia group, which won the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft’s May 2006 tender for the Augsburg-area “Diesel Network II.” To operate this network, Veolia founded Bayerische Regiobahn, which began passenger services in southwest Bavaria in December 2008, covering lines such as the Ammersee, Pfaffenwinkel, Paartal, and Altmühltal railways.

Throughout the 2010s, Transdev expanded its Bavarian footprint via sister company Bayerische Oberlandbahn (BOB), Meridian and BRB brands. In 2011, Veolia exited the transport sector, merging its operations into Veolia Transdev, later renamed Transdev GmbH in March 2015 under French parent company Transdev.

2013 – Birth of ‘Meridian’ services

Meridian is not a company or a subsidiary; it is a brand. On 15 December 2013, the company then known as Veolia Verkehr took over from DB Regio Bayern, which had been operating the network under the regional transport contract (under the Munich-Salzburg-Express brand). Now known as Transdev, it was a subsidiary called Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (BOB) that provided the services under the operating name ‘Meridian’. Following the introduction of line numbering in Bavarian regional transport, the Meridian subsequently ran as the RE 5 to Salzburg, the RB 54 to Kufstein and the RB 58 from Munich to Rosenheim via Holzkirchen.

Although the name ‘Meridian’ remains popular amongst passengers in this part of Bavaria, the service is now operated under the BRB brand, which continues to run the thirty or so Stadler Flirt 3 trains purchased in 2013.

BRB today

In 2020, Transdev unified its Bavarian operations under a single BRB brand, while keeping BOB and BRB as separate legal entities. The BRB (Bayerische Regiobahn) brand comprises today two operating companies, both of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the French group Transdev:

• Bayerische Regiobahn GmbH (Ammersee-Altmühltal and Ostallgäu-Lechfeld networks) — operates a network of approximately 400 km using LINT trains manufactured by Alstom
• Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (Oberland, Chiemgau-Inntal and Berchtesgaden-Ruhpolding networks) — operates a network of approximately 430 km using FLIRT trains manufactured by Stadler on the Chiemgau-Inntal and Berchtesgaden-Ruhpolding networks, and LINT trains from Alstom on the Oberland network.

BRB employs around 850 staff (2023). They work as train drivers and customer service representatives on the trains, at the railway depots in Augsburg and Lenggries, in the administrative offices in Holzkirchen and Augsburg, and in the ten customer service centres, keeping operations running smoothly in every respect.

BRB pays leasing fees to the manufacturers, so it does not purchase the rolling stock itself. At the depots in Augsburg and Lenggries, BRB carries out all work on the rolling stock: maintenance, repairs, servicing, retrofitting, turning wheel sets, refuelling, washing trains, interior cleaning, etc. The company ensures that the rolling stock is in perfect technical condition, that toilets and air-conditioning systems are working, and, last but not least, one of the most important aspects is passenger information in the event of delays, rail replacement services and similar situations.

2025

The Bavarian Regiobahn (BRB) has had two managing directors again since 01 September 2025. In addition to Arnulf Schuchmann (Technical Managing Director since mid‑2020 and sole Managing Director since late 2021), BRB has brought in Gordon Lemke, a specialist from the railway sector. Lemke previously served as Technical Managing Director at ER.Bahn‑consulting GmbH in Nuremberg and as Technical Managing Director at KSV Europe GmbH in Leipzig. Before that, he was Technical Operations Manager and authorised signatory at Go‑Ahead Baden‑Württemberg GmbH and Go‑Ahead Bayern GmbH. 🟧

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Passenger train services • Regional line services / Ticketing • Germany • Lexical