FlixTrain

History

FlixTrain began running trains in 2018, backed by investors including HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, the European Investment Bank, General Atlantic, and Silver Lake. A late-2017 deal with Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX) led to HKX services adopting the FlixTrain name about six months later; the BahnTouristikExpress (BTE) also rebranded as FlixTrain around that time. Both HKX and BTE were connected to the American Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), which partnered with FlixTrain until the two ended their collaboration on 20 April 2020.

Also in 2017, FlixTrain teamed up with Czech operator Leo Express for Stuttgart–Berlin services, but that partnership dissolved in late 2021 after FlixTrain temporarily suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, FlixTrain filed a complaint with the European Commission over €5 billion in German state aid to Deutsche Bahn, arguing the process was improper and anti-competitive. By mid-2022, FlixTrain’s German network covered 70 domestic destinations; it had also launched services in Sweden (which stopped in 2024) and ran one line to Basel Badischer Bahnhof on the Swiss border.

A 2024 study by Transport & Environment ranked FlixTrain 20th out of 27 companies, scoring poorly on reliability, booking, onboard amenities, and bike accommodation for medium and long-distance trips.

Services

FlixTrain's inaugural service departed Hamburg for Cologne on 23 March 2018, with scheduled services beginning the following day. On 26 April 2018, in partnership with Leo Express, it launched its first Berlin–Stuttgart service. At the start of a new timetable on 15 December 2019, FlixTrain added seven destinations, including a Berlin–Stuttgart service calling at Leipzig, Halle (Saale), Erfurt, Gotha, Eisenach, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, as well as Aachen.

A Hamburg–Stuttgart service was planned for spring 2020. Under the 2020 timetable, FlixTrain operated three long-distance intercity routes with two trains per day each. Services were suspended temporarily on 20 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; operations resumed on 23 July but were again suspended in October 2020 during the pandemic's second wave, during which rolling stock was overhauled. In April 2021, FlixTrain announced a restart the following month, and from 20 May up to four services per day ran on its Berlin–Cologne and Hamburg–Cologne routes.

During early 2021, the company expanded to include a Hamburg–Berlin–Leipzig service (launched 27 May), a Munich–Augsburg–Würzburg–Aschaffenburg–Hanau–Frankfurt route (launched 18 June), and its first sleeper train between Hamburg–Berlin–Munich (launched 17 June), adding 16 cities and towns. In May 2022, FlixTrain announced three new routes, increasing its network by 12 destinations to a total of 70 inside Germany, and increased frequency on existing routes. Its first cross-border service, between Berlin and Basel, began on 23 June 2022.

Rolling stock

FlixTrain typically doesn't own the trains it runs, instead leasing them from other firms. Its first carriages came from BahnTouristikExpress, but that deal ended in early 2020. Another supplier has been Talbot Services in Aachen. The company says its trains run entirely on green electricity.

Most of its fleet consists of refurbished locomotive-hauled UIC-standard passenger coaches, pulled by third-generation Siemens EuroSprinter or Vectron engines. In 2020, FlixTrain partnered with Railpool; those leased coaches feature new seats, updated toilets, power outlets, Wi-Fi, and entertainment systems. In early 2025, FlixTrain was in talks with Talgo about buying up to 63 trains similar to DB Fernverkehr's ICE L. On 27 March 2025, it placed a €1.06 billion order for thirty locomotive-hauled trainsets plus fifteen years of maintenance, with an option to increase the order to 65 sets.

These trains will be pulled by separately purchased Siemens Vectron locomotives and are designed to run in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden.

Did You Know?

• Tickets are sold on the FlixBus website and are only valid for the booked connection, also serving as a seat reservation.
• FlixTrain's prices are adjusted dynamically in response to expected demand.
• The proposed TMH deal was valued at €1 billion.