Germany - Hessische Landesbahn HLB incl. subsidiaries Cantus, Taunusbahn

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Hessische Landesbahn HLB

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Hessische Landesbahn HLB is a company owned by the German Bundesland Hessen. It has its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and it operates both train and bus services. The main line of the HLB originally was the Königstein Railway between Königstein and Frankfurt-Höchst. Since 2005 HLB operates trains between Hanau and Schöllkrippen and since 2010 also the main line Frankfurt–Gießen–Siegen/Marburg routes and, since December 2011, it has operated Regionalbahn services on the RMV lines 45 and 52 on the Limburg–Gießen–Alsfeld–Fulda and the Fulda–Gersfeld routes. HLB has several subsidiaries. It owns 74,9% of the vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH, 50% of the Regionalbahn Kassel, 33% of the Hellertalbahn, the Cantus which is shown below, as well as 50% of the Süd-Thüringen-Bahn. In 2022 HLB operated 22 Regionalbahn and Regionalexpress service lines. HLB's train types include FLIRT and GTW2/6 trains made by Stadler, Alstom LINT and Coradia Continental trains, old Siemens Desiro and VT2E trains made by Linke-Hoffman-Busch.

This train ET350 is a Coradia Continental made by Alstom. Picture from Frankfurt am Main 3.6.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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A detail picture of the front part of HLB's Coradia Continental ET350.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main 3.6.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Another one of HLB's Coradia Continental trains, ET164.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main 3.6.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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One of HLB's Stadler FLIRT trains, Br429.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main 9.3.2017 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Several two coaches long Alstom Lint railbuses, Br 648.
Picture from Fulda 10.7.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Alstom Lint railbuses which are just one coach long are extremely rare. These are called Br 640 or as their manufacturer Alstom calls them, Alstom Lint 41.
Picture from Fulda 10.7.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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A one coach long Br640 Lint plus a two coaches long Br 648 Lint forming a three coaches long railbus train..
Picture from Fulda 10.7.2023 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Cantus

For pictures of Cantus, a HLB subsidiary, see our category Cantus

Taunusbahn TSB

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This is an old diesel train of the Taunusbahn TSB. It is of the type VT2E built by the former Linke-Hoffman-Busch, today a part of Alstom. The name Taunusbahn TSB does actually not refer to a daughter company of the HLB, but rather a train line of some 37 kilometres. HLB operates on this line and also on the lines from Frankfurt to Königstein and Bad Soden a regional traffic just like S-Bahn trains do around other cities. The trains are either these old VT2E trains built between 1976 and 1993 or then newer Alstom Lint diesel trains. Earlier also Br 628 / Br 629 diesel railbuses were used. Already for several years plans have existed to electrify these lines and take new trains in use, but the project has been several times postponed.

This train is one of the oldest VT2E trains dating back to 1976. The newer ones from the 1990s have smooth outer walls, these oldies have walls of corrugated steel plates. Phasing out and scrapping of these trains has been going on already since 2011, but still today some of them are in use.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof 3.6.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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Another picture of one of the very old LHB VT2E trains ready to leave from Frankfurt towards Königstein.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof 9.3.2017 by Ilkka Siissalo.

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These newer Alstom LINT diesel multiple units have been one by one taking over traffic from the very old VT2E trains shown above. But now s there are plans to electrify the lines operated by HLB/TSB, even these new trains will likely be withdrawn in the near future.
Picture from Frankfurt am Main 9.3.2017 by Ilkka Siissalo.
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