FlixTrain celebrates its fifth birthday

++ The first FlixTrain travelled from Hamburg to Cologne at the end of March 2018.  

++ Today, the green rail network covers 60 destinations in Germany with over 120 weekly departures.   

++ Since 2021, FlixTrain also operates in Sweden and connects the metropolises Stockholm and Gothenburg. 

Munich, 30 March 2023 – FlixTrain is celebrating its fifth anniversary. At the end of March 2018, the first-ever FlixTrain travelled from Hamburg to Cologne. Today, the green rail network in Germany stretches from Hamburg in the north to Freiburg in the south, from Dresden in the east to Aachen in the west. FlixTrain currently connects a total of 60 destinations throughout Germany. In Sweden, FlixTrain has been carrying train passengers between six cities, including Stockholm and Gothenburg, since 2021. In 2022, the first cross-border connection to Basel in Switzerland was launched. In the future, the company will continue to focus on expansion and increasing frequency. On its fifth birthday, FlixTrain shares five exciting facts about the green rail vehicles.  

5 facts about the 5th FlixTrain birthday 

1. First private long-distance train network in the Federal Republic of Germany   

With FlixTrain, the first and largest private long-distance train network in the Federal Republic was created in 2018 - a major milestone in German rail transport. The first FlixTrain left Hamburg for Cologne on 23 March 2018.  

2. More than green exterior 

According to the Federal Environment Ministry in Germany (Umweltbundesamt), train travellers (46g greenhouse gases per passenger-kilometer, abbreviation: Pkm) are responsible for 72% less climate-damaging CO2 emissions than car travellers (162g/Pkm). Compared to air passengers (271g/Pkm), train travellers emit 84% fewer CO2 emissions.  

3. A heavyweight on the rails 

Trains are real heavyweights: Including the locomotive, an average FlixTrain weighs about 475 tons. Extrapolated to the green FlixTrain fleet, which consists of 140 completely refurbished waggons and the associated locomotives, the FlixTrains thus weigh as much as 1,615 elephants, which corresponds to around 180 elephant herds - or also around 2,690 large hippos, 3,365 white rhinos, around 8,075 adult male bison or also 58 adult male blue whales.¹ 

4. All FlixTrain lines together would reach from Dublin to Istanbul  

The green rail network is 3334 kilometres long. Of this, 2880 kilometres run in Germany, connecting 60 destinations. In Sweden, the network is 454 kilometres long and connects the metropolises Stockholm and Gothenburg as well as four other cities. In the future, there will also be Europe-wide network expansion plans with the Connecting Europe project in cooperation with the European Commission. 

 5. Travelling at a tearing pace 

The completely refurbished FlixTrains travel at speeds of up to 200 km/h and bring all passengers quickly and safely to their destinations. FlixTrain, therefore, offers travel times at ICE level.