Flixtrain is ramping up competition with Deutsche Bahn by expanding its partnership with regional rail services. The company announced on Thursday in Munich that, effective immediately, passengers can book combined tickets that include both regional train travel and a Flixtrain journey, making an additional 300 cities accessible.
The initiative is designed to strengthen mobility in rural areas, with more than half of the newly connected towns having fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. “Through the cooperation, even smaller towns gain access to more attractive long-distance travel options,” said Flix CEO André Schwämmlein. “To convince more people to embrace sustainable, collective travel, rural areas are just as important as metropolitan regions,” he added.
According to the company, the new combined tickets now make it possible to reach university cities such as Erlangen, Ilmenau, and Konstanz. In Lower Saxony, destinations including Hamelin and Celle have been added. Two of Germany’s most scenic routes are also part of the expansion: the Black Forest Railway from Konstanz to Karlsruhe and the Höllental Railway from Donaueschingen to Freiburg. Travelers can even reach Schaffhausen in Switzerland, near the famous Rhine Falls.
The regional rail connections either serve as feeders to Flixtrain stations or as onward links after a Flixtrain journey. Tickets, available via the Flixtrain app or website, are offered at lower prices compared to purchasing both tickets separately, the company noted. Importantly, there is no fixed train requirement for the regional portion, passengers may take an earlier or later service.
Flixtrain’s direct network currently covers around 50 German cities as well as Basel in Switzerland. With this extended cooperation through the Germany-wide tariff association (Deutschlandtarifverbund, DTV), which brings together numerous railway companies and public authorities, the number of available destinations rises to more than 1,000 cities.
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