Travel provider Flix wants to undercut Deutsche Bahn's prices with its new trains. “We will always remain cheaper than Deutsche Bahn,” Flix CEO André Schwämmlein told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday. There will be no first class or on-board restaurant, but there will be snack vending machines. Anyone who wants large suitcases or a better seat, such as by the window, will have to pay for it, Schwämmlein announced.
Flix also plans to offer cross-border train connections in Europe in the future and has ordered 65 high-speed trains from Spanish manufacturer Talgo for this purpose. Schwämmlein did not say when they will start running. “Production at Talgo is now underway, and the new fleet will be introduced to the market gradually. Unfortunately, I can't say yet which routes we will be running or when.”
The Talgo trains offer a “straight, barrier-free and therefore more comfortable entrance,” said Schwämmlein. He expects this entrance to “increase efficiency”: "Many delays are caused by people having to carry their suitcases up or down these three steps. Then everyone stands in the doorway, 200 get off, 200 get back on, and it all takes forever."
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