page_title: Hunsrück Railway
section_title: Change of operator
hierarchical_section_title: Hunsrück Railway / History / Change of operator
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Reparatur- und Waschanlage für Züge der Firma Rhenus Veniro in Boppard
context_page_description: The Hunsrück Railway is a partially disused railway branch line in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which branches from the West Rhine Railway in Boppard and used to run as far as Simmern. The 38 kilometre section south of Emmelshausen has been dismantled and has been since replaced by the Schinderhannes-Radweg cycle path. In Simmern it connected with the now partially closed Hunsrückquerbahn between Langenlonsheim and Hermeskeil.
  On the 15 kilometre-long Boppard–Emmelshausen section there are regular local services operated by Rhenus Veniro as route RB 37. Many school students from Emmelshausen and Boppard-Buchholz rely on the trains and their travel was facilitated by the extension of the line from Boppard Central Station to Boppard Süd station.
context_section_description: Rhenus Veniro was contracted to take over passenger operations on the Hunsrück railway at the timetable change in December 2009. The Public Transport Association of Rhineland-Palatinate North (Zweckverband SchienenPersonenNahVerkehr Rheinland-Pfalz Nord) in Koblenz had awarded the company the contract for its operation in February 2008. The contract is for a period of 20 years. Rhenus Veniro was contracted to operate three Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel multiple units that were modified for the steep grades of this route. As the operation of these new vehicles had still not been approved by the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt) in December 2009, the line continued to be operated by DB Regio Southwest with locomotive-hauled push-pull trains.
  In the autumn of 2010 Emmelshausen station was rebuilt. Two new switches were installed and a new platform was built on track 1 to enable trains to stop there again. The signal box at the entrance to the station became redundant during the conversion work.
  On the last day before the Easter school holidays on the 15 April 2011, Zweckverband SPNV-Nord terminated the operations of DB Regio on the line. During the holidays, the platforms at Boppard-Fleckertshöhe and Ehr stations were renewed. On 29 April 2011, the Federal Railway Authority issued a limited operating license to Rhenus Veniro for the three RS1 DMUs (650350–650352), valid to 31 December 2011, allowing them to be used. Further modifications to the brake system were necessary to obtain a full permit. Until these were carried out the DMUs could not be operated at full occupancy.
  After a few, minor repairs by the manufacturer, Stadler Rail, Rhenus Veniro commenced operations on 4 May 2011 at 05:23, three days after the announced date for scheduled operations. However, not all three trains were used as the repairs were not complete. Therefore, the route was initially operated with one train, with additional buses used for school transport. From 8 August 2011, the first day of school after the summer holidays, Rhenus Veniro operated two coupled DMUs for the student traffic, which allowed a reduction in the operation of school buses.
  One of the three DMUs received unrestricted approval from the Federal Railway Authority in December 2011. The other two vehicles received full approval at the beginning of January 2012. Since then, the three-carriage DMUs have been able to run, so no additional school buses are now required.
caption: Workshop of Rhenus Veniro in Boppard, one of the three Regio-Shuttle sets to the left
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