Abellio

Abellio was the international rail and bus subsidiary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the Dutch national railway, operating regional passenger concessions in Germany. NS sold Abellio’s German operations to BeNEX in October 2024, ending its activities outside the Netherlands entirely.

Founded as NedRailways in 2001 and rebranded as Abellio in 2010, the company expanded into rail concessions in Germany, the Czech Republic, and the UK over its operating life. At its peak, the company operated around 50 lines in Germany with a fleet of close to 280 trainsets. By 2024, the German operations had contracted to 28 routes across eight Länder, with 120 trains covering approximately 26 million train-km per year.

German insolvency and exit

Abellio’s German business was consistently loss-making. In July 2021, NS initiated restructuring proceedings for the German holding company, recognising an asset impairment of EUR 121 million in 2023.

Following restructuring, the operations were transferred to a new German holding entity and placed for sale. BeNEX, a German investment firm holding stakes in Agilis, Cantus, Nordbahn, Metronom, and ODEG, completed the acquisition on 15 October 2024.

Contributing factors cited in the exit included pandemic-era revenue losses, cost inflation that could not be passed through concession contracts, infrastructure disruption penalties, and cancellation charges — structural pressures that affected multiple operators in the German regional market during the same period.

The UK operations, which had included ScotRail, West Midlands Trains, and Greater Anglia at various points, were sold via management buyout to Transport UK Group in February 2023.