In November 2015, Go-Ahead Deutschland was awarded its first rail contract in the Germany market by the
Baden-Württemberg public transport authority Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg from June 2019. Covering multiple regional rail lines around the city of
Stuttgart, the combined revenues generated were expected to reach roughly €1.6bn across the life of the contract, which covers operations between June 2019 and 2032. On 9 June 2019, operations commenced as contracted, taking over from the previous operator, the state-owned railway company
Deutsche Bahn (DB). In response to gains by competing companies, DB reportedly launched efforts to reduce costs and retain as much of its profitable regional services as possible. Over the following years, Go-Ahead Deutschland pursued various other opportunities in the German rail sector. During June 2017, the company was awarded a separate contract to operate Network 3A ‘Murrbahn’ routes from December 2019 by Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg and the
Bavarian rail authority
Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG). Under this contract, it operate services between Stuttgart and
Nürnberg, covering 1.3 million km per year, starting in December 2019 and ending in 2032. In August 2017, yet another contract was issued to Go-Ahead Deutschland for the operation of ‘E-Netz Allgäu’ regional trains between
Munich and
Lindau by the Baden-Wurttemberg public transport authority and the Bavarian rail authority. This contract, which has a set timeframe of 12 years, covers six lines and 71 stations, was a significant expansion to Go-Ahead’s German rail business, which employed 1,000 people in Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg and comprises a fleet of 144 modern electric trains by the end of 2022, growing Go-Ahead’s total German rail business to annually cover 20 million train kilometres. The sale was completed on 1 February 2024 following approval from the EC. Trains on the network continue to use the Go-Ahead name in the short term. ==Services==