Key takeaways
- HzL is mainly a brand today. The stand-alone legal entity merged into SWEG, the abbreviation stayed on vehicles.
- State railway means public, not private. Shareholders were the state and districts – that's what sets it apart from private competitors.
- Own infrastructure makes the difference. Parts of the network belonged to the company itself, which shapes operation and responsibilities.
- The vehicle picture is older than elsewhere. Types from the world of non-federal railways lasted longer here.
- An abbreviation on the front proves nothing. Only the vehicle keeper marking on the data panel says who owns the vehicle today.
Contents
- 1.Fact file
- 2.Business areas
- 3.Structure & brands
- 4.History at a glance
- 5.How to recognise the company
- 6.Strengths and weaknesses
- 7.Why a state railway isn’t a private railway
- 8.Who actually runs services under HzL today?
- 9.How to recognise a vehicle of this origin
- 10.What changed at the merger – and what didn’t
- 11.How old is the vehicle in front of you?
- 12.Is this still HzL?
- 13.Verdict
- 14.Frequently asked questions
Fact file
| What it is | Heritage brand of a public regional railway in Baden-Württemberg |
|---|---|
| Current standing | merged into SWEG – the brand outlived the legal entity |
| Core area | Zollernalb, the upper Danube valley and adjoining areas in southern Baden-Württemberg |
| Ownership | traditionally public – the state and districts as shareholders |
| Traction | Diesel multiple units on mostly non-electrified lines |
| Role in the system | Railway undertaking, and at times also an infrastructure manager |
| How to tell in the field | The vehicle keeper marking on the data panel, not the lettering on the front |
| Official website | www.hzl-online.de |
Business areas
Structure & brands
Parent group:SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG
History at a glance
How to recognise Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL)
Does the train really belong to Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL)?
- HzL abbreviation on the side or front – often a leftover, not a current operator indication
- Diesel multiple units with no overhead line above – the core network isn't electrified
- Vehicle keeper marking on the data panel, which now points to the larger company
- Older vehicle types from the world of non-federal railways, such as the NE 81 type
- State and association logos next to the brand lettering – a sign of the commissioning transport authority
- Its own operating points in the network that don't belong to the federally owned infrastructure manager
- Transitional livery – vehicles that have only half made the brand change
Strengths and weaknesses
What the company stands for
- A heritage brand with visible history – vehicle changes are easy to trace
- Small networks, a manageable fleet, realistically fully recordable
- Older multiple unit types stayed in service here longer than in conurbations
- Scenic lines with many freely accessible viewpoints
- The transition to the larger company is directly observable on the vehicle
Where it falls short
- The abbreviation on the vehicle is no longer a reliable indication of today's operator
- Older sources name a legal entity that no longer exists in this form
- There's no reliable public compilation of the current fleet
- Sparse frequencies on branch lines mean long waiting times
- The brand and successor company are regularly conflated in sighting lists
Updated: August 2026 – On some multiple units in southern Baden-Württemberg you’ll find an abbreviation for a company that, as such, no longer exists. The Hohenzollerische Landesbahn is a lesson in how long a brand survives after its legal entity has vanished – and why you should always date sightings from such transition phases.
Document transition phases while they're still visible
Old lettering on new operators disappears with the next major overhaul. Record it before it's too late.
Why a state railway isn’t a private railway
The term Landesbahn (state railway) is often confused with “private”, but means the opposite. Shareholders are the state and districts; the company is public, it just doesn’t belong to the federally owned group. Historically, such railways emerged where the state railway didn’t want to build a line and the region still needed a connection.
This origin explains two peculiarities. First, state railways often owned their tracks themselves – infrastructure and transport sat in one hand, which for the large networks must be kept separate under European law. Second, procurement matched the company’s own size: small batches, robust technology, long service lives.
Exactly this produced the typical vehicle picture of such railways. Because individual operations were too small for their own developments, several non-federal railways joined together and procured jointly. The NE 81 is the best-known result of this practice: a multiple unit that ran near-identically at half a dozen railways, and whose vehicle keeper marking is therefore more important than its appearance. Anyone going purely by the body style regularly assigns such vehicles to the wrong company.
Who actually runs services under HzL today?
Operationally, the answer today is unambiguous: licensing, staff and vehicles sit with the SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH, the operating arm of SWEG. The HzL brand, by contrast, stands for a historical area that lives on as a transport region, but not as a company.
On neighbouring lines you meet completely different players: DB Regio with its regional units, plus regional operators such as the Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn. Anyone travelling through southern Baden-Württemberg therefore sees vehicles from several companies within a few hours, ones that often look strongly similar to each other.
There’s a third level on top, particularly visible in the southwest: the commissioning transport authority. Regional transport is coordinated statewide here, and where the state prescribes colours, fittings and brand, the operator’s own handwriting all but disappears. Two trains in the same livery can then be run by two different companies – for instance when a state railway and a group subsidiary have won neighbouring lots of the same tender. Brands such as DB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee also belong in this web: a regional presence behind which stands a group subsidiary. For you that means: in the southwest, colour is an even more worthless identification feature than elsewhere.
Old lettering is a dating aid
If the front lettering and the data panel don't match, you don't have a problem, you have information: the vehicle is in a transition phase. Photograph both and note the date – such pictures become more valuable over the years, not less.
How to recognise a vehicle of this origin
Identify the vehicle type
Older branch-line multiple units from the world of non-federal railways are a strong clue. Body shape and window arrangement give away the type faster than any lettering.
Check the overhead line
No contact wire above the track means diesel traction. That rules out whole vehicle families straight away.
Compare front and side
If the front shows a different abbreviation than the data panel on the side, you're documenting a brand change in progress.
Read the data panel
Country code, vehicle keeper marking, twelve-digit number. This detail decides who owns the vehicle today.
Note the date
For brands that have been through a change of legal entity, the date is the single most important detail of your sighting.
What changed at the merger – and what didn’t
| Level | Before the merger | Afterwards | Visible to you at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | stand-alone state railway | part of SWEG | commercial register, not on the train |
| Licence as a railway undertaking | its own licence | successor’s licence | timetable information |
| Vehicle keeper marking | its own marking | successor’s marking | data panel |
| Brand presence | its own lettering | gradually adapted | front and side wall |
| Vehicles | unchanged stock | unchanged stock | vehicle number |
The last row is the most important: the vehicle number stays. Mergers, renamings and new awards change ownership and responsibility, not the vehicle’s identity. Anyone documenting by it needs to correct nothing after a timetable change.
It’s also notable how differently fast the rows of this table change. The entry in the commercial register changes on a set date, the timetable information follows at the next timetable period, the data panel at the next inspection, and the livery often only years later. This time lag is the reason why, depending on the source, three different answers can arise from the same merger – and why a sighting without a date isn’t usable in such phases. When identifying, it helps to determine the vehicle family independently of the presentation; the guide to identifying classes works through the features in order.
Collect vehicle history, not company history
With Traintrack you follow the same vehicle across operator and brand changes.
How old is the vehicle in front of you?
Old or new? A quick assessment
Just an approximation. The exact build year is in the vehicle documents, not on the body.
Is this still HzL?
It counts as an HzL sighting if …
- your sighting is dated and falls within the time of the stand-alone company
- vehicle keeper marking and livery match each other
- you've noted the vehicle number
Log it as a transitional case if …
- the old abbreviation is at the front but the new one is on the data panel
- the vehicle is partly repainted
- timetable information and vehicle lettering disagree
It's an SWEG sighting if …
- the data panel shows only the successor's abbreviation
- the vehicle is fully repainted in the new livery
- the service is assigned to the successor in the timetable
Non-federal networks are still operational land
The fact that a small railway runs its own tracks doesn't make them publicly accessible. The same no-entry rules and house rights apply there too – often with fewer staff on site, but the same rules. More in the piece on house rules at stations.
Verdict
The Hohenzollerische Landesbahn shows that brands die more slowly than companies. Anyone photographing a vehicle with the HzL abbreviation isn’t documenting a current operator indication, but a piece of transition – and that’s exactly what makes such pictures interesting.
For practice it comes down to three details: number, vehicle keeper marking, date. Everything else is context you can add at any time.
In brief
HzL is today a brand with history, no longer a stand-alone company. Services run in the name of SWEG – recognisable by the data panel, not the front lettering.
Record what's disappearing right now
Old abbreviations, half-repainted vehicles, last runs: with Traintrack you document them with number, location and date.
Summary
- Anyone reading HzL today is reading a piece of company history, not a current operator indication.
- The merger with SWEG changed the brand presence more slowly than the commercial register – and that exact time lag is the source of error.
- For spotters the appeal remains in the vehicle history: small type series, long service lives, well-documentable changeovers.
- Sightings from this area should always carry a date, because brand and company didn't change at the same time.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn still exist?
Not as a stand-alone company in its earlier form. It was merged with the SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-AG, so operation and licensing now sit there. The brand and the abbreviation HzL stayed visible on vehicles and installations for a good while afterwards – a typical case of a brand outliving its legal entity.
What does the term Landesbahn mean?
It describes a railway under public ownership that doesn't belong to the federally owned group. Shareholders are typically a German state and participating districts. That's something different from a private railway: state railways are public companies, they just don't sit under the umbrella of Deutsche Bahn AG.
Who runs services on the former HzL lines today?
Operationally, the SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH is the point of contact. On neighbouring lines, DB Regio and further operators also run services. Which line is assigned to whom depends on the current transport contracts and changes with every new award – which is why no line network is listed here deliberately.
Which vehicles shaped this railway?
Characteristic were diesel multiple units from the world of non-federal railways, in particular vehicles of the NE 81 type, later supplemented and replaced by the Regio-Shuttle RS1. These types are still a good indicator today that you're not in the network of the state railway's successor. There's no reliable public list of the current fleet.
What's the story with the Ringzug?
The Ringzug Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg is a regional cooperative service that links several lines into one continuous network. State railways played a leading part in it. Here too the basic rule of this section applies: the name denotes a transport concept, not a company.
Why does HzL still appear on some vehicles?
Because repainting costs money and is usually done only at the next scheduled overhaul. So vehicles often keep the old livery for years after a merger. For you, that's not a problem but a dating aid – the piece Who's actually running it? shows how to draw the right conclusions from such contradictions.
Did the railway also own tracks?
Yes, state railways traditionally operate their own infrastructure. That means: on part of the lines, the same organisation was both network operator and railway undertaking. That's the exception in the German system, because on the large networks infrastructure and transport must be kept separate – on small non-federal networks, by contrast, it's common.
Where can I see vehicles from this world well?
Best at termini and crossing stations on the branch lines, where the multiple units have longer standing times. For the wider context, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof is the nearest thoroughly documented hub; the core area itself lies considerably further south. Regional tips are in the guide to Baden-Württemberg.
How do I tell HzL vehicles apart from those of other state railways?
Via the type in combination with the vehicle keeper marking. Many non-federal railways procured the same vehicle types, so multiple units in southern Germany look very similar to each other. Distinguishing them only succeeds via the vehicle number – how to read it is explained in the piece on the UIC number.
Are old sightings with HzL still valid?
Yes, as long as they carry a date. A sighting documents a state at a point in time, and that doesn't change retroactively through later mergers. The only problem cases are undated entries, because for them it's no longer clear whether HzL was operator, keeper or just lettering at the time.
Log vehicles from Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL)
Company, vehicle, location and date logged in seconds – and visible to the community.
The operational level in the railway operator database
Who actually runs the trains, with keeper markings and identifying features on the vehicle.
SWEG Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH
SWEG is Baden-Württemberg's state-owned transport company. This page explains how the roles of transport authority, fare association and railway operator divide up.
Local & regionalBodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn (BOB)
The Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn is a regional local transport company. Its abbreviation BOB is used twice in the German railway world – a classic stumbling block.
Local & regionalDB Regio AG
DB Regio is Deutsche Bahn's local rail division. The group organises regional services regionally – which is why the brand on the train and the keeper marking on the vehicle often don't match.
Local & regionalDB Regio Stuttgart GmbH
DB Regio Stuttgart GmbH is an independent company within Deutsche Bahn's local rail services. The legal form in the name is more than a formality.
Typical vehicles
Class 626 (NE 81)
The NE 81 was the standard railcar of Germany's non-federal railways: a boxy diesel railcar with matching driving trailers and non-driving trailers, now listed as Class 626.
ClassClass 650 (Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1)
The Regio-Shuttle RS1 of Class 650 is Germany's most distinctive single-part diesel railcar. Here's how to recognise it by its front, windows and roof.
ClassClass 628 / 629
Class 628 is the classic two-part DB diesel railcar for regional services. The 629 is its twin-engined sister. Here's how to tell them apart in the field.
ClassDB Class 611
The Class 611 was DB's second attempt at tilting-technology diesel railcars: 50 two-car units, technically demanding and a long-standing problem child.
Where you will find Hohenzollerische Landesbahn (HzL)
Spotting locations where you will regularly come across vehicles from this organisation – with viewpoints, the best light and coordinates.
More companies
SWEG 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.
BrandRingzug Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg
The Ringzug belongs not to the company that operates it, but to a transport authority made up of three districts. That's exactly why the operator name could change without anything altering about the network, the livery or the timetable – a lesson for every sighting list.
BrandBodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn (BOB)
The Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Bahn belongs to districts, towns and a municipality – not a group. Its blue trains run between Friedrichshafen and Aulendorf, and its abbreviation BOB is shared, of all things, with a Bavarian railway operating somewhere else entirely.
BrandDB ZugBus Regionalverkehr Alb-Bodensee (RAB)
The name contains the word ZugBus (train-bus), but today it mostly runs buses. The RAB's rail services passed to DB Regio Baden-Württemberg. Anyone reading old vehicle lists will find a company that no longer appears in train operations in this form.
Related guides from the blog
- Who's Actually Running That Train? How to Identify Railway Operators
- Reading the UIC number: what the 12 digits on a vehicle reveal
- Trainspotting Baden-Württemberg: The Best Spots, Tips & Routes
- Trainspotter Stuttgart: The Best Photo Locations, Times and Pro Tips
- Identifying Train Classes: How to Recognise Any Locomotive or Multiple Unit
- Timetable Change: What Changes and Why Spotters Love It
