Trivia: Railway stations that are only served by a foreign train company?

[AlbertBeale]

Sovereign entities are often called states and countries interchangeably. But "country" is a much older term, citizenship simply came into existence in international law after the UK but before the EU. England indeed sadly has no autonomy, but throughout history countries still exist even when occupied, it's not about politicians and power, it's about people, land and nations. English is a real majority nationality and culture in the well defined country of England, German is the majority nationality in Lower Saxony. Aruba is a country, not a territory unlike the term for most other imperial remnants. Countries can exist outside the UN, see Taiwan and pre-1945 nations for example, and the visa issue doesn't apply for French wishing to visit Northern Ireland from Ireland, so visa boundaries certainly don't define the UK. Hope that helps.

People generally don't need a visa to travel from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland because - pre-dating and quite separately from the EEC, EU, etc - the UK (ie England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland) together with the RoI, plus the Isle of Man and all the Channel Islands [which themselves, by the way, are made up of more than one separate legal entity] are in one Common Travel Area, whereby people have the right to move freely within and between any of them, mostly irrespective of which of them they have citizenship of. This was reinforced - especially in terms of the border between the RoI and NI - by the "Good Friday Agreement" more than 20 years ago, which helped resolve (albeit not fully) the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Similarly, people with visa-free travel to one part of the CTA will generally have visa-free travel to the rest. (I think there are some exceptions relating to the IoM and CI in terms of how long you can stay and so on.) There's a scheme whereby people from some countries who do need a visa for Ireland and the UK can get one visa which is valid for both (like a mini version of the Schengen Zone countries), though they wouldn't need to show it travelling between the RoI and NI. There can be identity checks between either part of Ireland and GB (ie the parts of the UK other than NI), but for citizens of the Common Travel Area they can be something less than a normal full passport. If you're a citizen of anywhere else, then you can be - though you aren't always - required to show a passport when entering GB from either part of Ireland.

 

[duncanp]

In France, Croix-Wasquehal, Croix L'Allumette, Roubaix and Tourcoing are only served by SNCB services from Lille to Antwerp, with the exception of Tourcoing, which sees a few TGV services.

Similarly for stations on the French side of the border on the Lille to Tournai line.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Germany was unified in 1871. In 1990 it was reunified.

Well - the bits of Germany that were taken apart and put together again have varied ... it's not all "the same Germany"! So "reunified" isn't necessarily a precisely correct term. Even after Germany lost territory after WW1, and before the Nazis came to power and occupied anywhere extra (ie at the time of a historically minimal Germany), the borders of Germany went much further than currently.

I have a road map (centred on West Germany), and published in West Germany during the decades after WW2; this is when there was West Germany (ie areas occupied by the UK, US and France after WW2 - "BRD" - "the Federal Republic"), East Germany (the area occupied by the Soviet Union after WW2 - "DDR" - "the Democratic Republic"), and further areas of what had been pre-WW2 Germany which were [mostly] controlled by, and subsequently absorbed into, Poland. This map shows the Federal Republic (West Germany) as, indeed, "West Germany"; but it shows what we mostly called "East Germany" as "Central Germany"; the way the borders were marked showed that it was considered by the cartographers that there was a further area, ie "east Germany", covering some at least of the rest of what had been pre-WW2 Germany - this area was undefined on the map, with the border marks trailing off. But it's clear that for quite a bit of the period before "reunification" 30 years ago, many Germans considered that "Germany" still included some areas to the east of the two then-recognised German states.

The "facts on the ground" became established partly by the expulsion of German-speakers, and people who considered themselves German, by the post-WW2 Polish government, leaving few "German" people inside the new Polish borders. The border between what was East Germany (now just eastern Germany) and Poland was subsequently legally accepted by the German government as a fait accompli. It's interesting to note, though, that some of those western areas of Poland, which became Polish territory in the post-WW2 border changes, are not historically part of Poland, not having been officially Polish for hundreds of years, if ever.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So, are we allowing Craven Arms, Broome, Hopton Heath, Bucknell, Knighton, also Nantwich, Wrenbury, Whitchurch, Prees, Wem, Yorton, Church Stretton, Ludlow and Leominster in this category? Possibly a few others as well, such as Gobowen?

All stations located in England, and I think only served by Transport for Wales Rail Ltd, a Welsh registered company.

 

[daodao]

So, are we allowing Craven Arms, Broome, Hopton Heath, Bucknell, Knighton, also Nantwich, Wrenbury, Whitchurch, Prees, Wem, Yorton, Church Stretton, Ludlow and Leominster in this category? Possibly a few others as well, such as Gobowen?

All stations located in England, and I think only served by Transport for Wales Rail Ltd, a Welsh registered company.

And Neston/Heswall/Upton on the Borderlands line.

 

[Fragezeichnen]

AUSTRIA
Vils Stadt, Vils, Ulrichsbrücke - Füssen, Musau, Pflach, Reutte in Tirol, Heiterwang - Plansee, Bichlbach - Almkopfbahn, Bichlbach - Berwang, Lähn, Lermoos, Ehrwald - Zugspitzbahn - only served by DB

All of these are stations on the Außerfernbahn, a route which runs through Austria and is owned by ÖBB but which connects two German cities and is isolated from the rest of the Austrian Rail network.

POLAND
Świnoujście Centrum - only served by UBB, a subsidiary of DB

After WW2, part of the island of Usedom was given to Poland, and the Polish half of the railway which once traversed the entire island was closed. 40 Years later the German part of the line was extended across the border again. The German operator which serves this line is thus fully registered as a Polish railway operator, despite having only 1400m of isolated track which ends in a buffer stop and no vehicles equipped for operation in Poland.

 

[StephenHunter]

Well - the bits of Germany that were taken apart and put together again have varied ... it's not all "the same Germany"! So "reunified" isn't necessarily a precisely correct term. Even after Germany lost territory after WW1, and before the Nazis came to power and occupied anywhere extra (ie at the time of a historically minimal Germany), the borders of Germany went much further than currently.

I have a road map (centred on West Germany), and published in West Germany during the decades after WW2; this is when there was West Germany (ie areas occupied by the UK, US and France after WW2 - "BRD" - "the Federal Republic"), East Germany (the area occupied by the Soviet Union after WW2 - "DDR" - "the Democratic Republic"), and further areas of what had been pre-WW2 Germany which were [mostly] controlled by, and subsequently absorbed into, Poland. This map shows the Federal Republic (West Germany) as, indeed, "West Germany"; but it shows what we mostly called "East Germany" as "Central Germany"; the way the borders were marked showed that it was considered by the cartographers that there was a further area, ie "east Germany", covering some at least of the rest of what had been pre-WW2 Germany - this area was undefined on the map, with the border marks trailing off. But it's clear that for quite a bit of the period before "reunification" 30 years ago, many Germans considered that "Germany" still included some areas to the east of the two then-recognised German states.

The "facts on the ground" became established partly by the expulsion of German-speakers, and people who considered themselves German, by the post-WW2 Polish government, leaving few "German" people inside the new Polish borders. The border between what was East Germany (now just eastern Germany) and Poland was subsequently legally accepted by the German government as a fait accompli. It's interesting to note, though, that some of those western areas of Poland, which became Polish territory in the post-WW2 border changes, are not historically part of Poland, not having been officially Polish for hundreds of years, if ever.

You have a very similar situation with the Summer 1967 DB timetable, which also uses different symbols for West-East border stations to other borders.

 

[AM9]

People generally don't need a visa to travel from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland because - pre-dating and quite separately from the EEC, EU, etc - the UK (ie England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland) together with the RoI, plus the Isle of Man and all the Channel Islands [which themselves, by the way, are made up of more than one separate legal entity] are in one Common Travel Area, whereby people have the right to move freely within and between any of them, mostly irrespective of which of them they have citizenship of. This was reinforced - especially in terms of the border between the RoI and NI - by the "Good Friday Agreement" more than 20 years ago, which helped resolve (albeit not fully) the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Similarly, people with visa-free travel to one part of the CTA will generally have visa-free travel to the rest. (I think there are some exceptions relating to the IoM and CI in terms of how long you can stay and so on.) There's a scheme whereby people from some countries who do need a visa for Ireland and the UK can get one visa which is valid for both (like a mini version of the Schengen Zone countries), though they wouldn't need to show it travelling between the RoI and NI. There can be identity checks between either part of Ireland and GB (ie the parts of the UK other than NI), but for citizens of the Common Travel Area they can be something less than a normal full passport. If you're a citizen of anywhere else, then you can be - though you aren't always - required to show a passport when entering GB from either part of Ireland.

The terms generally used are 'country' for the UK, which is recognised by the UN and EU. The four constituent parts of the UK Government are described as 'Nations'. The "Scotland is a country thing" is a bit premature.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Gently... steering... the... thread... back... towards... non-UK... examples........



Woodlands station in Singapore is only served by KTM trains from Malaysia. Seat61 summarises the situation quite well, which is that when Malaysia and Singapore separated in 1961, Malaysia retained ownership of about 20km of railway, track bed and stations in Singapore as far as the railway terminus at Keppel Road. This was handed over to Singaporean ownership in 2011, when they closed the railway. Today, Woodlands station is the terminus for a shuttle train across the causeway to Johor Bahru Sentral.

 

[Kreissignal]

Dragging the thread back to its original premise (and then immediately spoiling it by putting rubber tyres on it), the valley of Kleinwalsertal in Austria is served only by Walserbus buses belonging to RVA, which is headquartered in Oberstdorf in Bavaria. All the buses have German number plates.

Kleinwalsertal has no direct road connection with the rest of Austria.

 

[ac6000cw]

The 'White Pass & Yukon Route' tourist railway operates services from Skagway, Alaska, USA to Carcross, Yukon, Canada and is owned by American & Anglo-American companies. It's an isolated line with an operating base in Skagway.

(Skagway's only overland route to anywhere far away is a road into Canada)

 

[Golghar]

Going back to the post-1815 German Confederation - this included Austria and Bohemia but not other parts of the Austrian Empire. The British monarch in his role as King of Hanover was also part of this entity. It was a military alliance and did play a role in suppressing the popular uprisings of 1848 and then wresting Schleswig-Holstein from the Danish crown in 1864. However it soon broke up due to rivalry between its two largest components Prussia and Austria and it was only after the 1866 war between Prussia on one side and Austria allied to the smaller German states (including Hanover which had by then split off from the British crown) on the other that the 1871 creation of a united German state, actually a Greater Prussia without Austria became feasible. Of course the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 made French objections to a super-state emerging on its eastern border irrelevant.

 

[30907]

AUSTRIA
Vils Stadt, Vils, Ulrichsbrücke - Füssen, Musau, Pflach, Reutte in Tirol, Heiterwang - Plansee, Bichlbach - Almkopfbahn, Bichlbach - Berwang, Lähn, Lermoos, Ehrwald - Zugspitzbahn - only served by DB

All of these are stations on the Außerfernbahn, a route which runs through Austria and is owned by ÖBB but which connects two German cities and is isolated from the rest of the Austrian Rail network.

Good call there, though the section East of Reutte had OeBB trains until relatively recently - it was electrified while West of it wasn't.

Kralowec in Czechia is only served by trains operated under the label of KD (Lower Silesian Railways) from Poland - but they are actually operated by Czech company GWTR and serve several stations on the Polish side.
Likewise, Szklarska Poręba Huta and Szklarska Poręba Jakuszyce in PL are on the recently reopened line from Harrachov which is now operated 100% by CD (was GWTR or another independent previously).

 

[supervalkoinen]

I may be wrong as it's been a few years since my last visit, but aren't some of the Austrian stations around Neusiedlersee only served by Hungarian services? Or maybe vice-versa?

 

[Austriantrain]

I may be wrong as it's been a few years since my last visit, but aren't some of the Austrian stations around Neusiedlersee only served by Hungarian services? Or maybe vice-versa?

That’s also a complicated one.

The line you probably mean is the Neusiedlerseebahn from Neusiedl to Fertoszentmiklos. The infrastructure is owned by a a company called Neusiedlerseebahn owned mainly by the Land of Burgenland (not a country ). Trains used to be operated by GySEV, a railway company mainly owned by the state of Hungary (in itself, a very interesting topic, since it used to be an Austrian-Hungarian company with cross border lines during the Cold War). However, the trains that actually run there were mostly ÖBB train sets… since last year, ÖBB is also the official operator, AFAIK, whereas GySEV is now the official operator of Wien - Deutschkreutz trains, running on ÖBB infrastructure to Ebenfurth, then GySEV‘s own line to Sopron and onwards on MAV rails to Harka and then on ÖBB metal to Deutschkreutz (also the only ÖBB line to be electrified with 25 kV…).

 

[dutchflyer]

Do you know what happened in the few years before the schengen system was introduced (after the reunification of Germany but before the schengen started)? Would passengers who were travelling onboard from Germany to Germany through this Polish station have to carry their passport with them? Or did they only check people who boarded and alighted from the train?

As mostly-there are/were official rules and local practice. But -again- here on the continent most people do not bother too much with passports-they(or rather we) must have a national ID-card and thats enough-and at least in german border areas one is obliged to have it on them all times, from a certain age whcih is lower as you might expect with british thinking. I somehow remember, as this service as DE to DE with 1 stop on PL land-mostly to serve a nearby german village just across the river, subject of scrutiny by Polish borderguards would be those who tried to enter Poland from that stop-I guess less as 1/day on average.
More to the original subject:
I forgot the names and exact lines, but I passed there a few days ago: german/swiss border area around Konstanz/Singen-some local stops also only served by SBB.
Some stops in Skane/south Sweden may be served by the Oresundtag (via the tunnelbridge to Copenhagen) only, and this is now DSB (danish).
The also DE to DE-but via AT/Tirol line from Garmisch west to Kempten via Ehrwald-Reutte is served by DB, but there might be the odd peak-hour OeBB train to Innsbruck too-I assume others will know the finer details about this.
Also I vaguely remember that once-not anymore-some transit line PL to PL via Ukrayna was in force-in the most outer south-east part of Poland.
Also: stops in NL served by the adjacent country trains do not really differ in any aspect: national dutch fares apply, and for burocratic official purpose the train is considered to be on responsibility of NS. How the train looks like or is owned by is a minor detail-who owns the rails and is responsible is the major factor.

 

[supervalkoinen]

That’s also a complicated one.

The line you probably mean is the Neusiedlerseebahn from Neusiedl to Fertoszentmiklos. The infrastructure is owned by a a company called Neusiedlerseebahn owned mainly by the Land of Burgenland (not a country ). Trains used to be operated by GySEV, a railway company mainly owned by the state of Hungary (in itself, a very interesting topic, since it used to be an Austrian-Hungarian company with cross border lines during the Cold War). However, the trains that actually run there were mostly ÖBB train sets… since last year, ÖBB is also the official operator, AFAIK, whereas GySEV is now the official operator of Wien - Deutschkreutz trains, running on ÖBB infrastructure to Ebenfurth, then GySEV‘s own line to Sopron and onwards on MAV rails to Harka and then on ÖBB metal to Deutschkreutz (also the only ÖBB line to be electrified with 25 kV…).

Interesting - thanks.

So does that mean that Fertőszéplak-Fertőd meets the original criteria as it doesn't appear to have any Hungarian-run services?

What about the lines north and west from Sopron into Burgenland?

Edited - Sopron query answered in your edit.

 

[duncanp]

Route 10 of the Basel tramway includes a short section that passes through French territory, with one stop (Leymen) on the French side of the border.

Route D of the Strasbourg tramway crosses the border into Kehl Am Rhein in Germany.

 

[Austriantrain]

Interesting - thanks.

So does that mean that Fertőszéplak-Fertőd meets the original criteria as it doesn't appear to have any Hungarian-run services?

True, AFAIK it hasn’t.

What about the lines north and west from Sopron into Burgenland?

Edited - Sopron query answered in your edit.

To expand: the line to the north towards Ebenfurth is part of the original GySEV main line and still owned and operated by it. The line towards the West - Wiener Neustadt - is an ÖBB line. I am not a 100% sure but I think even the Hungarian part was owned by ÖBB throughout the Cold War.

 

[alex397]

Dragging the thread back to its original premise (and then immediately spoiling it by putting rubber tyres on it), the valley of Kleinwalsertal in Austria is served only by Walserbus buses belonging to RVA, which is headquartered in Oberstdorf in Bavaria. All the buses have German number plates.

Kleinwalsertal has no direct road connection with the rest of Austria.

If you go to the fascinating area where the German, Dutch and Belgian borders meet, there are probably various bus stops served only by a local bus service of a different country!
Around Aachen, Germany some of the city routes are operated by a Belgian bus company. So you see buses in the Aachen municipal colours but with Belgian registration plates. You will also see Dutch registrations on buses operating the 350 from Maastricht (operated by UK-based Arriva owned by the German DB).

But this is probably worthy of its own thread!

 

[JonasB]

Some stops in Skane/south Sweden may be served by the Oresundtag (via the tunnelbridge to Copenhagen) only, and this is now DSB (danish).

I would not call Øresundståg a Danish company. It is a Swedish-Danish company and the trains are operated by the very Swedish SJ on the Swedish side.

 

[DanielB]

Also: stops in NL served by the adjacent country trains do not really differ in any aspect: national dutch fares apply, and for burocratic official purpose the train is considered to be on responsibility of NS.

That's not completely true anymore. For Eijsden it does apply, but on the tendered lines it doesn't.
The service in Weener and on Heerlen - Aachen for example is the responsability of Arriva and for the German service between Enschede and Gronau the province Overijssel is responsible on the Dutch part, thus this falls under "Blauwnet" for the exploitation of the stations.

At Hengelo - Bad Bentheim the IC is the responsability of NS, but the regional service is operated by Keolis Netherlands on Dutch soil.

If you go to the fascinating area where the German, Dutch and Belgian borders meet, there are probably various bus stops served only by a local bus service of a different country!
Around Aachen, Germany some of the city routes are operated by a Belgian bus company. So you see buses in the Aachen municipal colours but with Belgian registration plates. You will also see Dutch registrations on buses operating the 350 from Maastricht (operated by UK-based Arriva owned by the German DB).

But this is probably worthy of its own thread!

Fascinating indeed. Especially Vaals which has stops that are served by a German and Belgian bus, but not by a Dutch one. And besides the three country point over there, they've also got a bus station served by operators from three countries.

Troughout Limburg there are multiple of those cases. Maastricht for example is the only place outside Belgium where TEC and De Lijn buses meet. And at the local route 1 in Venlo the electric bus is actually being charged at the terminus in the nabouring German town of Kaldenkirchen.

 

[supervalkoinen]

Another for those with local knowledge - is the Zittau-Liberec route only served by German operators within Czechia?

 

[30907]

Another for those with local knowledge - is the Zittau-Liberec route only served by German operators within Czechia?

According to the timetable it's currently 100% Trilex which is Die Länderbahn - it depends whether foreign-owned concessions "count" but I presume they do.

 

[The exile]

I used that line (from end to end) in October 1995. I don't remember noticing any border checks, and my diary of the trip confirms that 'I saw no sign of border formalities'. I don't know what would have happened if I'd tried alighting at the Polish station, but I'm guessing some people did so without my noticing any checking. In those days it was still served by Polish trains as well, and indeed I think I remember one arriving there while my train was in the station.

The border check at Görlitz when I arrived from Wrocław earlier that day had been more casual than I'd expected for the eastern border of the EU.

My 1992 'Rough Guide' to Germany says that the Zittau-Görlitz journey had been a 'bureaucratic comic opera' in the Communist era, but I don't know whether that's based on any first-hand experience by the author.




My impression is that that the German Confederation wasn't much more united than the Holy Roman Empire which preceded it, although the number of indivdual states within it was rather smaller. The HRE dated back centuries, and latterly at least had come to approximate (roughly) to Germany, but with very limited central authority.

I'm sure I remember little wooden huts on either side of the bridge linking the station (in Poland) to the village it is there to serve (in Germany) when passing through in 2000. Whether they were actually staffed on a regular basis is of course another matter. The train would have presumably run under the rules governing "corridor trains" meaning that no border checks would be carried out on the train. As Krzewina Zgorzelecka basically only exists to serve the German village of Ostritz bei Görlitz, it may well be that the station was set up to permit transit from German territory to German train via a Polish platform without border controls , but not from German territory to a Polish train, when they still ran.

Though strictly speaking not within the terms of this thread (as it no longer has any stations or even any railway service), although stretches of the Vennbahn run through German territory, the trackbed and stations on those stretches were made Belgian sovereign territory under the Treaty of Versailles. Unlike most of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, this one still applies today, so there are several places where in crossing a (now moribund) level crossing, you cross the German / Belgian frontier twice in the width of a single-track railway line. I'm not sure whether or not the road surface at those crossings remains German....!

 

[181]

I'm sure I remember little wooden huts on either side of the bridge linking the station (in Poland) to the village it is there to serve (in Germany) when passing through in 2000. Whether they were actually staffed on a regular basis is of course another matter. The train would have presumably run under the rules governing "corridor trains" meaning that no border checks would be carried out on the train. As Krzewina Zgorzelecka basically only exists to serve the German village of Ostritz bei Görlitz, it may well be that the station was set up to permit transit from German territory to German train via a Polish platform without border controls , but not from German territory to a Polish train, when they still ran.

Yes, the border control huts can be seen here in 2006, and on this page there is a picture of the Polish one in 2017 after conversion into a shop. I don't think I remember them specifically, but that's no reason to doubt their existence, and I have a vague memory of the footbridge with some indication of its being a border crossing. I'm still not sure what there was to keep German passengers out of Poland or Polish ones from boarding a German train. A search for pictures doesn't reveal any obvious signs of there having been platforms other than on the two tracks nearest the station building, or room for a barrier between those; my guess is that passenger numbers were low enough that anyone alighting from a German train and not crossing the river could be noticed and checked without the need for barriers.

In the Google satellite view, it looks rather as if the river used to flow to the east of the station but was diverted through an artificial channel to the west at some point before 1945.

 

[The exile]

Yes, the border control huts can be seen here in 2006, and on this page there is a picture of the Polish one in 2017 after conversion into a shop. I don't think I remember them specifically, but that's no reason to doubt their existence, and I have a vague memory of the footbridge with some indication of its being a border crossing. I'm still not sure what there was to keep German passengers out of Poland or Polish ones from boarding a German train. A search for pictures doesn't reveal any obvious signs of there having been platforms other than on the two tracks nearest the station building, or room for a barrier between those; my guess is that passenger numbers were low enough that anyone alighting from a German train and not crossing the river could be noticed and checked without the need for barriers.

In the Google satellite view, it looks rather as if the river used to flow to the east of the station but was diverted through an artificial channel to the west at some point before 1945.

I suppose the Polish border guard could have been posted at the border bridge either side of the arrival of a Polish train (on which anyone alighting and crossing the bridge would be crossing the border, but anyone leaving via the station would not) and at the station entrance either side of the arrival of a German train (where the situation would be reversed).

 

[James James]

Germany: Jestetten and Lottstetten are in a sliver of Germany that protrudes into Switzerland, and I believe are SBB run and only visited by SBB trains.

Also Germany: I believe the SBB operates all trains on the line to Zell (Wiesenthal) - and I think those trains are entirely on DB tracks (they do come into Switzerland, but only as far as Basel Bad). You might be able to argue that these are operated by "SBB GmbH Deutschland", but they are in turn owned by SBB proper.

This time Switzerland: the High Rhine railway is a German line that operates into Switzerland at either end, and I believe the stations from Neuhausen to Trasadingen are only operated by German railway companies (but lie in Switzerland). At the other end, all stations inside Switzerland receive both Swiss and German trains.

Italy but with ties to Switzerland: Bernina line stations up to Tirano - are only operated by RhB.

(Meanwhile in Italy: some of the Tilo lines are only operated by Tilo, and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's the SBB because Tilo trains carry SBB livery... but TILO is actually a joint international venture and probably doesn't count.)

Italy again: Iselle is only operated by BLS train I believe? That said, I think at least one Italy->France sleeper also travels through (without stopping).

France: this one is debatable: stations on the Mont Blanc Express inside France might qualify, but apparently the SNCF operate these trains after the border (the trains are still owned by TMR though, who are Swiss).

France: La Cure is the terminus of a line from Switzerland, and sits right on the border (officially is part of France), operated by TPN.

Liechtenstein: as OP states, has no domestic train companies, all service is by I think the OBB.

Vatican City: . Wikipedia tells me they have a weekly passenger service, and implies it's operated by FS.

Monaco: it's all SNCF.

Woodlands train checkpoint in Singapore seems to only serve KTM trains.

 

[43096]

Also Germany: I believe the SBB operates all trains on the line to Zell (Wiesenthal) - and I think those trains are entirely on DB tracks (they do come into Switzerland, but only as far as Basel Bad). You might be able to argue that these are operated by "SBB GmbH Deutschland", but they are in turn owned by SBB proper.

That's a franchised/contracted out operation, though, isn't it? It's just SBB won the tender to operate it. No different from where the likes of Abellio or National Express provide the only service to a particular station.

 

[JonasB]

Anyone familiar with the situation in Lindau? Are there any German trains stopping in Lindau-Reutin?