Bentheimer Railway (BE) reopened the line to passenger traffic on July 7 2019, under contract from the state of Lower Saxony. BE currently operates an hourly service using a fleet of five Alstom Coradia Lint-41 two-car DMUs, which will be available for use by the new operator.
The contract, which has an annual volume of about 326,000 train-km, will run for 15 years from December 2021 until December 2036. The tender includes an option to extend the service from Neuenhaus via Emlichheim to the Dutch town of Coevorden.
The deadline for bids is October 16.
