Abellio expanded its presence in central Germany. Since 2015 Abellio trains are running in the Saale- Thüringen-Südharz (STS) electric network and since December 2018 also in the DISA network. Thousands of passengers are now able to travel with Abellio in Harz and Börde, as well as between the major cities of Erfurt and Magdeburg.
At the start of the DISA network, staffing problems occurred caused by a strong wave of illness in the winter months and recruitment and staff training. Difficulties in operational planning on the Unstrutbahn (part of DISA) led to the complete changeover of traffic to rail replacement traffic by bus over two months. In the second half of the year these problems have been fully resolved.
The large-scale construction works at the two major hubs in Halle and Köthen in Mitteldeutschland led to great difficulties in planning, the associated punctuality and the resulting penalties.
