| Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) | |
| Location City: | Karlsruhe |
| Location Country: | Germany |
| Area Served: | north and north-west Baden-Württemberg, south-east Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Industry: | Public transport |
| Owner: | City of Karlsruhe (100%) |
| Num Employees: | 980 |
Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft ('Alb Valley Transport Company', AVG) is a railway company owned by the city of Karlsruhe that operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area, southwest Germany. It is both an train operating company, as well as an infrastructure operator.
It is a member of the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) transport association that manages a common public transport structure for Karlsruhe and its surrounding areas and a partner, with the Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) and Deutsche Bahn (DB), in the operation of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, the pioneering tram-train system that serves a larger area. It also operates some of the region’s bus services and carries freight by road and rail.
It owns and maintains several railway lines, including the Albtalbahn railway, and leases and maintains other lines. VBK, a sister company, operates Karlsruhe's bus and tram network, and AVG Stadtbahn routes use VBK tracks to access the city centre. Besides AVG and VBK lines, AVG also operates on DB tracks and a short stretch of tram track belonging to the city of Heilbronn. VBK and DB Stadtbahn routes traverse AVG tracks.[1]
AVG dates back to the acquisition in 1958 of the Albtalbahn railway by the city of Karlsruhe. This electric railway was converted to and connected to the city's tram network. Because it remained legally a railway and needed to conform to mainline railway design and safety standards, AVG accumulated experience in operating across the divide between tramway and railway. It was this experience that led to the development of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe and to the AVG operating over a much wider area.[2] [3]
AVG operates the following railway infrastructure (EBO rules). So of these lines are owned by other organisations, which have handed the operations of the infrastructure to AVG, or AVG is leasing them:[4]
It also operates the following tramway infrastructure (BOStrab rules), electrified at 750 V DC:
As of 2024, AVG operates the following tram-train services as part of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn system:[5]