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The train carries one name, the data panel a second, and it is run by a third company. This database sorts out the levels: groups, state railways, brands, manufacturers, heritage railways and institutions – and who belongs to whom.
291
organisations listed
6
company types
26
countries
The types differ in what the organisation actually does – and therefore in where and how you will come across it in day-to-day operations.
Groups & holding companies
Corporate groups with several railway subsidiaries. They rarely appear in train operations themselves – their subsidiaries and brands, on the other hand, are everywhere.
32 entries →
State railways
National railway companies that form the backbone of transport in their country – usually with their own fleet, their own colour scheme and their own numbering system.
24 entries →
Brands & service brands
Names that appear on the train but are not companies in their own right: product brands, network brands and service brands with another company behind them.
55 entries →
Manufacturers & rail technology
Rolling stock builders, rail technology firms and leasing companies. They run no trains, but they shape what runs on the tracks.
43 entries →
Heritage railways
Operators and societies that keep historic vehicles in working order – from narrow-gauge networks with a year-round timetable to light railways running only in season.
108 entries →
Infrastructure & institutions
Infrastructure managers, regulators and industry associations. They own the tracks or set the rules for running trains on them.
29 entries →
Company, vehicle, location and date in a single sighting – free with Traintrack, no scraps of paper needed.
Many regional services are run by the same handful of groups – just under changing brands.
Deutsche Bahn AG
Deutsche Bahn AG doesn't run a single train itself. It's a holding company under which dozens of independent companies hold their own licences, rolling stock and transport contracts. Spotting the red DB logo doesn't tell you the operator.
8 linked pages
GroupFerrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS)
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane is the state holding company behind Trenitalia, RFI and Mercitalia. It doesn't run any trains itself, but it holds the network, passenger services, freight and even the national road network under one roof - and operates through subsidiaries in several European countries.
4 linked pages
GroupNetinera
Netinera is one of Germany's largest regional-transport groups – yet you'll never find its name on a train. Services run under brands like alex, vogtlandbahn, erixx, vlexx and ODEG, each backed by its own company.
2 linked pages
GroupSWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG
The SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG is majority-owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg but runs under a name many mistake for a private railway. Services aren't operated by the AG itself but by operating companies – and these carry different names on paper and on the vehicle.
2 linked pages
GroupTransdev Deutschland
Transdev Deutschland is the German national arm of a French mobility group – and almost never appears under this name on the platform. The group works with a whole range of regional operating companies, each holding its own licence and its own brand name.
2 linked pages
GroupWestfälische Verkehrsgesellschaft (WVG)
Westfälische Verkehrsgesellschaft is a municipal holding company that bundles several transport companies in the Münsterland and Ruhr-Lippe area. Only one of them still runs trains today – the others carry the railway reference only in their name.
2 linked pages
Almost every mix-up in sighting lists happens because these three levels get muddled. They really are three different things.
The name passengers know. It belongs to the transport service and often stays when the operator changes.
Whoever registers and maintains the vehicle. For leased locomotives that is a leasing company, not an operator.
The company with the licence, staff and safety certificate. It rarely appears on the outside of the vehicle – and it is the information you are actually after.
The corporate group that owns the operator. It explains why vehicles and staff move between seemingly unrelated railways.
Always note both separately: the name you read and the vehicle number from the data panel. Only the number is unique. How it is structured is explained in the guide to the UIC number; the route from vehicle to company is described in Who is actually running the train?.
A railway operator (railway undertaking) is the specific company that runs trains – with a licence, a safety certificate, staff and vehicles. “Railway company” is the broader term: it also covers parent groups, brands, manufacturers, heritage railways and infrastructure managers. This database covers that broader level, while the railway operator database covers the operational one.
Because the livery and the data panel name different things. The side of the train usually shows the service brand of the transport authority or the service itself. The data panel shows the vehicle’s keeper. And the train is run by a railway operator, which can be a third company again. All three can differ – that is the norm, not the exception.
A product name for a particular transport service, usually tied to a tendered network. Brands outlive changes of operator: when a transport contract is re-awarded, the brand name often stays while a different company runs the trains behind it. That is exactly why a sighting that only records the brand name is hard to attribute later on.
Because groups as a rule do not run trains themselves. They hold stakes in operating companies, which hold the transport contracts and the licences. So the vehicle almost never shows the group name, but the subsidiary or the brand instead.
Yes, because they determine what runs on the tracks. A vehicle type can almost always be placed by its manufacturer family – by the shape of its cab, its bogies and its door layout. If you know a manufacturer’s classes, you will identify vehicles much faster. The rolling stock database is the perfect companion.
Note the full vehicle number including the keeper marking, plus location, date and time – and, separately, which name was on the vehicle. In the Traintrack app you can log all that in a few seconds and fill in the attribution later if it turns out that brand and operator are not the same.
The other databases
Note: shareholdings, company names, transport contracts and brand names change all the time. Confirmed details are in the fact file on each page; anything that may change with a contract award or restructuring is marked as such.
