European Railroad Discussion > The Meridian, a new player in Bavaria

Starting December 15, 2013, the Meridian, a trademark of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn operating already in Southern Bavaria, took over the regional rail traffic of the lines Munich - Salzburg (Austria), Munich - Kufstein (Austria) and Munich - Rosenheim from DB Regio. While the Metronom issues its own tickets, those issued by DB, the Greater Munich Traffic Association (MVV) and others are valid as well.

Due to the fact that the newly ordered trains of the type FLIRT 3 from Stadler only got their license from the Eisenbahn-Bundesamt on December 13, 2013, Meridian only had 9 EMU trainsets available instead of the ordered 35. In order to fulfill their contract, Meridian / BOB leased several EMUs, DMUs and trains from a variety of operators. As of today, I had seen trains from DB and ÖBB, ODEG (Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn Gesellschaft), OLA (Ostseeland Verkehr GmbH), Metronom, Nordwestbahn and Nordostsee-Bahn. Below are a couple of pictures showing some of the different trains running right now. Sometimes the platforms get crowded by photographers :-)

Picture 1: A Meridian Flirt 3 together with an ÖBB Taurus in Munich Main Station
Picture 2: Two Flirt 3 coupled together in front of an ÖBB Railjet
Picture 3: Meridian EMU ET 313 in Munich Main Station

E111

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Picture 4: ÖBB 1142 667 in front of a couple of "Schlieren" cars. At the end, another 1142 is pushing
Picture 5: A Talent DMU of the Ostseeland Verkehr GmbH in front of a NWB DMU is waiting for their next run. In the background, the train leased from the Nordostseebahn is visible.
Picture 6: one of the DB trains with one class 111 locomotive on each end. Note that the DB logo is now invisible ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/13 08:54 by E111.

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Picture 7: An ODEG KISS at Munich East
Picture 8: The Metronom trainset sandwiched between two leased Tauri at Munich Main Station
Picture 9: Side-by-side: The ticket-vending machines of DB and Meridian at Munich Main Station

This concludes my short series about the start of the Meridian. I hope you enjoyed it.

E111

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Absolutely enjoyed it. Very good photos and information. Thank you.

Ken Britton
Bedford, TX

Thank you E111, enjoyed the series very much!

How interesting the the German certification authority made it again: prevented new trains from entering traffic...looks like a specifically German phenomenon to me. Would they have perfectionists working for them...question rising especially since same trains can be taken into use elsewhere?

I find it interesting that just one year after ODEG themselves still were short of trains in Berlin, and had to hire train from others, they now actually have enough KISS EMUs to hire one or more to Meridian. And all that variety of all kinds of trains in Munich, consider yourself lucky, and thanks for sharing these on trainorders!


E111 Wrote:
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> This concludes my short series about the start of
> the Meridian. I hope you enjoyed it.
>
> E111

Excellent photos, great summary. Thank you !!

Best, SZ

A couple of years ago, my son spent the summer in Salzburg attending college classes thru an international studies program. I went over to visit him for about 10 days. We loved watching and riding the trains. Now, i can't get enough of the photos of those electric locos. Thanks!

Posted from iPhone

Thank you once again for the marvelous photo coverage and the complete information package. Always a treat, E111!

The third shot, of the sleek ET 313, makes me envious, wishing that we had more such options in the U.S. Perhaps not too long from now, we shall!

~ BZ

Notch16 Wrote:
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> ..., wishing that we had more such options in
> the U.S. Perhaps not too long from now, we shall!
>
> ~ BZ

And i hope your trains will be more comfortable than this Stadlers. The comfort of them is much less than of the replaced DB Doppelstock coaches. Riding 2 hours from Munich to Salzburg is a pain.

E111 thanks for your photos.

I can contribute this 2 pics only. Note the authorization date on pic 2.

Erwin from Austria

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