Germany in FlixTrain livery in
Cologne|224x224px |225x225px (FlixTrain's main hub in Frankfurt am Main)|191x191px On 23 March 2018, FlixTrain's inaugural service departed
Hamburg for
Cologne. Scheduled services began the following day. On 26 April of that year, in partnership with Leo Express, FlixTrain launched its first service on the Berlin to Stuttgart route. FlixTrain added seven new destinations to its rail network at the start of a new timetable brought into effect on 15 December 2019. This included a
Berlin – Stuttgart service that also called at Leipzig, Halle (Saale), Erfurt, Gotha, Eisenach, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Aachen, to the west of
Cologne, was also added to the network. A new
Hamburg –
Stuttgart service was planned for the spring of 2020. Under FlixTrain's 2020 timetable, it was operating trains on three long-distance intercity routes, each being served by two trains per day. On 20 March 2020, services were suspended temporarily in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. This move came in spite of a general downturn in passenger traffic as a consequence of the pandemic; it was speculated that this expansion had been encouraged, at least in part, by the German government’s announced removal of track access fees for 2020 and 2021. In May 2022, the company announced the addition of three new routes, increasing its network by 12 destinations, expanding to a total of 70 destinations inside Germany; furthermore, service frequency was also increased on the existing Munich - Cologne - Hamburg and Hamburg - Berlin - Leipzig routes. Perhaps the most high-profile part of this announcement was the pending launch of FlixTrain’s first cross-border service, running between Berlin and the
Swiss city of
Basel; operations began on 23 June 2022.
Sweden (2021–2024) to
Stockholm (May 2021) station In late 2019, FlixTrain announced plans to launch its first service outside Germany with new services in
Sweden, covering
Stockholm –
Gothenburg and Stockholm –
Malmö. Originally intended to be launched during the first half of 2020, services in Sweden commenced on 6 May 2021. Stockholm-based rail operator
Hector Rail, provided the locomotives and personnel, The
passenger carriages used were 15 refurbished German coaches from the 1960s and 1970s, previously owned by
Deutsche Bahn and leased from the German rolling stock leasing company
Railpool. The trains were approved for speeds up to 200 km/h, and the journey between Stockholm and Gothenburg took approximately three and a half hours, including three stops. In late 2022, FlixTrain eliminated stops in
Södertälje,
Hallsberg, and
Falköping, cutting travel time to just over three hours to compete more effectively with
SJ, the national rail operator, and
MTRX, a rival
open-access operator. In March 2023, FlixTrain suspended all train services between Stockholm and Gothenburg after a large number of carriages were damaged by flying
ballast following track work. The carriages were sent to Germany for repairs, and normal traffic resumed a couple of months later. All of FlixTrain's Swedish train services were abruptly paused in January 2024, with FlixTrain citing problems with carriage maintenance and
de-icing amid Swedish winter conditions. however in April 2024, FlixTrain announced that it would suspend services in Sweden entirely, and move the carriages to Germany to supply the increased demand there.
Other countries Further expansion of FlixTrain's operating area into various other countries has been mooted. In 2019, the company applied for track access in both
Sweden and
France in anticipation of the
upcoming liberalisation of the European railway network during the following year. During the late 2010s, plans for expanding into the
French market were reportedly set in motion, with an anticipated launch date for services during either 2020 or 2021; these ambitions were indefinitely postponed in April 2020. The company claimed this was due to the high cost of securing paths in France in comparison to other European markets. In 2023, FlixTrain applied to run international services between Germany and the Dutch cities of
Arnhem,
Utrecht,
Amsterdam and
The Hague to
Rotterdam. == Rolling stock ==