GERMANY: Regional transport authority Verband Region Stuttgart has put the operation of the entire Stuttgart S-Bahn network out to tender, inviting operators to bid for a 15-year contract covering around 14.3 million train-km a year from December 2034. The network was last tendered in 2006, when DB Regio was the only bidder.
The notice, published in the Official Journal of the EU in early August under reference 546297-2026, covers all Stuttgart S-Bahn lines plus two regional routes, RB11 Schusterbahn and RB64 Teckbahn.
On top of the base volume, the contract carries options totalling around 2.9 million train-km and a corridor allowing service changes of up to 25 per cent in either direction at marginal cost. The winner takes over operations on 10 December 2034 under a gross-cost contract with a quality incentive system, running to December 2049.
The transport authority has taken the largest part of the fleet out of the operator’s own investment. A public-sector body, still to be designated, will join the procedure as vehicle procurer, financing and providing up to 155 used Class 430 EMUs taken over from the current operator. Additional new trains are to be acquired by the winning operator under a financing model with ownership resting on the public side.
Requests to participate are due by 15 September 2026, with the contract award expected in early 2028. That leaves the winner more than six years to prepare fleet, staff and maintenance before taking over.
Incumbent contract extended to 2034
DB Regio and its predecessors have operated the Stuttgart S-Bahn since services began in 1978. In the November 2006 tender, four companies received the bidding documents, only DB Regio submitted an offer by the March 2008 deadline, and more than 70 rounds of negotiation followed before the contract for 2013 to 2028 was signed.
That contract set a base volume of 9.8 million train-km a year, which the authority described at the time as the biggest award of an existing German S-Bahn system. The ordering corridor has since taken the network to around 12.4 million train-km.
The contract was first extended to mid-2032 to keep an operator change clear of the Stuttgart 21 commissioning and the ETCS rollout in the Stuttgart node. It was then extended by a further two years into 2034, because no new-build vehicles can be delivered before that date.
Appeal delayed a comparable handover in Bavaria
DB Regio has contested regional awards before. In Bavaria, an appeal by the operator delayed a contract handover on the Mainfranken network.
The complaint, lodged with the procurement review body for southern Bavaria in October 2025, suspended the award while it was examined. It was rejected, and both lots then went to BeNEX.