ABOUT US

Upon 2005/2006 timetable change, Rurtal railway and RATH expand their activities in regional passenger rail transport. After winning Odenwald railway tender, Rurtal railway incorporates VIAS together with Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main mbH (VGF). Thus, RATH now operates two regional passenger rail transport networks (SPNV). Odenwald railway network connects Frankfurt am Main with Darmstadt, Hanau and Eberbach.

Already in 2005 Rurtal railway decides to expand in the area of goods transport. It results in the purchase of shares in TrainsporT AG in Belgium in 2006 and the start-up of Rurtal railway Cargo Benelux B.V. in 2007. The goods transport division of Rurtal railway continues to develop until it becomes a goods transport company operating on an international scale which now provides services to the largest sea ports of Europe at first hand.

VIAS wins the second tender in regional passenger rail transport and is now the operator of Rheingau line between Koblenz, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main. In 2010, Dänische Staatsbahn (DSB) takes over the shares in VGF and becomes a partner of RATH in VIAS GmbH.

RATH establishes its own training centre. In doing so, RATH intensifies its efforts for professional training and continuing education of qualified personnel for the railway industry. At the same time, RATH focuses on internal training of its in-house personnel.

The goods transport division of Rurtal railway is span-off into a company of its own. Rurtalbahn Cargo GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of RATH and has its registered office in Aachen. The subsidiaries of Rurtalbahn Benelux B.V. and shares in TrainsporT AG are also span-off.

Rurtal railway reactivates Wurmtal railway route between Heinsberg and Lindern. This means that the town of Heinsberg is linked to the railway network again for the first time since 1980s. The 12.2 km long route network is completed and ready for train operation at the time of 2013 timetable change.

VIAS puts Erft-Schwalm network into operation. In March 2015, NVR had announced the successful participation of VIAS in the corresponding tender. Erft-Schwalm network connects the towns of Bedburg, Grevenbroich, Neuss and Düsseldorf (RB 39-Nord). VIAS operates 850,000 train-km more per year with this network.

RATH buys shares in VISCOM, its long-term IT partner. In doing so, RATH establishes itself as a future-oriented company which now independently offers internal and external IT services. Moreover, the railway-specific software can now be developed within its own group of companies.

RATH training centre is span-off and professionalised. The training centre now operates under the name of LUKAS and trains account managers and train drivers every year. Moreover, LUKAS also offers continuing education measures.

Rurtalbahn GmbH was renamed RTB CARGO GmbH in 2016, which means that all companies in the CARGO Group will operate under the same brand name from that point on. In December of the previous year, RTB CARGO expanded to Austria and opened an office in Bergheim near Salzburg and thus the fourth branch.

LUKAS professionalises its training and continuing education by the use of modern simulators which are bough specifically for this purpose.

On December 10, 2018, RTB CARGO took over the first locomotives in its own possession. The locomotives 193 791 and 193 792 are in the corporate color of ultramarine blue. The 193 791 advertises with the slogan “Together through Europe”, while the 193 792 presents the workplace of a train driver and thus advertises our group-internal training center LUKAS with the slogan “With us on the Zugspitze”.

With the timetable change on December 15, 2019, the Rurtalbahn took over the daily regular operation of the RB28 line on the Bördebahn between Düren, Zülpich and Euskirchen. To start its operations, the Rurtalbahn repaired 6 stops on the route and modernized other parts of the route infrastructure. With the start of operations there is for the first time since 1983 a daily rail connection between the cities of Düren and Euskirchen.

With more than 8 million bus kilometers, the DKB and the RATH Group won the largest transport contract ever advertised in the Federal Republic of Germany in May 2019. The offer, which started on January 1st, 2020 under the name Rurtalbus, is the continuation of a cooperation between the district of Düren and the RATH Group. By awarding the contract to the bidding consortium, the long-term partners are now in a position to offer a coordinated transport concept, with bus and train, from a single source. The ambitious bus tender with an additional service of 1.2 million bus kilometers and 100 bus routes makes it possible, in addition to an improved local transport offer, to implement more innovative transport concepts that prepare the city and district of Düren for future challenges.

VIAS Rail GmbH also won the next tendering period for the Odenwaldbahn in December 2013 and thus secured the operation of the network until December 2027. Furthermore, in December 2017, the vehicle fleet was expanded by four more vehicles of the type Alstom “LINT 54”.

A new company called “Lok-Spitze Bahnpersonal GmbH (LSB)” was founded and started its operations on January 1st, 2021. With immediate effect, LSB will cover a new business area in the field of personnel services within the RATH Group. Lok-Spitze Bahnpersonal GmbH offers its services neutrally on the market, both for services in freight traffic and for passenger and construction train traffic. The company is based in Freilassing in Bavaria and is managed by Mr. Thomas Straßer as managing director. In the commercial area, Mr. Daniel Schell supports. We were able to win Mr. Jürgen Wrba for the operational management, who previously worked for Berchtesgadener Land-Bahn and as an independent personnel service provider. The first two train drivers have been working for LSB since March 1st, 2021.

Expansion continues at the freight transport division of the RATH Group. To mark the foundation of RTB CARGO HUNGARIA Kft. in 2020, RTB CARGO has established new headquarters at Győr in Hungary. RTB CARGO AUSTRIA has received Part B safety certification for Hungary which is valid to June 2025. The new entity will run its first trains in August.