Press release of the Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labour
Meyer: Reaching tourist destinations in M-V in a climate-friendly way by train
Schwerin, 03 April 2023 - Just in time for Easter, you can get to the attractive region of the Mecklenburg Lake District with the Südbahn. At the weekends, seasonal services on the Südbahn - from Parchim via Lübz and Karow to Plau am See (RB19) and between Waren (Müritz), Malchow and Plau (RB15) - will resume. "This season, we are also continuing the seasonal service on the Südbahn. In early summer, the new stop 'Malchow Krebssee' will be added. This means that locals and guests can also reach the summer toboggan run and the monkey forest comfortably and easily by rail. The Südbahn line is an enrichment of the offerings in the Mecklenburg Lake District," said Reinhard Meyer, Minister of Economics, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labour.
At Easter and from Ascension Day until 10 September 2023, the RB15 serves additional stations in Alt Schwerin, Karow (Meckl) and Plau am See every two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. For travellers coming from the west, the RB19 also starts every two hours on the route between Parchim, Lübz, Passow (Meckl), Gallin, Karow (Meckl) to Plau am See. The RB14 connects with the RE1 trains from/to Hamburg in Hagenow Land. In addition, there will again be suitable connecting trains from/to Schwerin (RB13) in Parchim. The two-hour interval of the regional trains will be supplemented by a bus service of line 77 (VLP - Verkehrsgesellschaft Ludwigslust-Parchim) from Plau am See to Malchow. In addition, passengers have the option of ordering a call bus at the stations in Parchim, Lübz and Plau (Rufbus VLP).
"With the integrated timetable of train, regular bus and call bus, the transport services on the southern railway have been raised to a new level. On weekends during the season, rail passengers can reach Plau am See from Hamburg or Berlin with only one change. There are six pairs of trips every two hours on Saturdays and Sundays and one pair of trips on Friday evenings," emphasises Stefan Lösel, Managing Director of Verkehrsgesellschaft Ludwigslust-Parchim mbH (VLP).
The Verkehrsgesellschaft Ludwigslust-Parchim mbh (VLP) supplements the rail service with line 77 and the call bus. All arrivals and departures of the trains have a connection to the VLP. The through trips of VLP line 77 and the rail services complement each other excellently because they run one hour apart, thus creating an almost hourly service between Parchim and the island town of Malchow.
"This year's Southern Railway seasonal service will once again bring the beauties of our region to many travellers, who come alone, with their friends and children, have their bike with them or are in a wheelchair, during the journey or at their destination. Take advantage of it! We are continuing to work on year-round offers," emphasises Clemens Russell of the Southern Railway Citizens' Initiative.
"This year, ODEG will operate two lines as part of the seasonal service, the RB15 (extension of the route for the seasonal service) and the RB19, thereby offering a complementary transport and timetable service for the people of West Mecklenburg - whether residents or tourists. This year, too, we are looking forward to welcoming old and new passengers who would like to use the seasonal service and, as always with ODEG, we welcome them with heart and rail passion," says Stefan Neubert, Managing Director of Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH (ODEG) and thanks VMV for its trust.
A bigger network for your ticket
All seasonal transport will be accessible with the Deutschland-Ticket, only when ordering a call bus will there be an additional service charge. "If passengers are travelling without a Deutschland-Ticket and are planning a single journey, they can, as last year, use the bus with an ODEG ticket and vice versa. The two transport companies ODEG and VLP continue to recognise each other's tickets. This means that you only need to buy one ticket on the route between Parchim, Plau am See and the island town of Malchow," says Daniel Bischof, Managing Director of VMV-Verkehrsgesellschaft Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
You can view the timetables for the Southern Railway seasonal service here: suedbahn-saisonverkehr.de/fahrplaene. For more information, please contact: suedbahn-saisonverkehr.de.
Background
The state-owned transport company helps to implement the transport policy goals of the state government. It provides transport services in local rail passenger transport (SPNV). It was founded in 1995 after the railway reform reorganised the state's responsibilities for regional rail transport. With the Regionalisation Act, responsibility was transferred to the individual federal states. According to the Public Transport Act of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the municipalities are responsible for local public transport by road, i.e. bus and tram. Because of its supra-regional importance, public transport by rail remains under the administration of the state.
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