Baden-Württemberg awards transport contract with HEUKING and sells shares in SBS after Abellio insolvency

A HEUKING team led by Düsseldorf-based partners Dr. Ute Jasper and Dr. Christopher Marx has provided comprehensive legal advice to the state of Baden-Württemberg in a Europe-wide procurement procedure.

The state of Baden-Württemberg – together with the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH – awards transport services for regional transport in the Neckar Valley and on the Southern Railway. The transport services are the subject of one of three lots in the Europe-wide tender for network 35. The transport contract runs from 01.08.2025 until the international timetable change in December 2032. Depending on the commissioning stage, the scope of services is between 6.7 and 8.4 million train-km per full timetable year.

The award in Lot 3 includes not only the operation of the rail network, but also the acquisition of the shares in SWEG Bahn Stuttgart GmbH (SBS). After Abellio Rail Baden-Württemberg GmbH became insolvent, the state-owned Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH (SWEG) took over the company. Now DB Regio is to take over the company. This secures jobs in the long term.

Counsel to the State of Baden-Württemberg
HEUKING:
Dr. Ute Jasper,
Dr. Christopher Marx (both lead, both Public Procurement), both Düsseldorf,
Prof. Dr. Georg Streit (Insolvency Law), Munich,
Dr. Stefan Jöster, LL.M. (Insurance Law), Cologne,
Dr. Rainer Velte (Antitrust), Düsseldorf,
Dr. Kai Uwe Büchler, (Insolvency Law), Munich,
Dr. Fabian Bürk, LL.M. (University of Auckland, New Zealand), (Insolvency Law), Munich,
Mike Steffen,
Christina Emde,
Moritz von Voß,
Dr. Arno Schönberger (all Procurement and Contracts), all Düsseldorf

Dr. Ute Jasper is one of the best-known lawyers for public procurement and infrastructure projects. She advises federal and state ministries, municipalities and companies, especially on innovative and complex projects. Ute Jasper is a partner at the law firm HEUKING, where she heads the "Public Sector and Public Procurement" department. She and her team have been ranked 1st in the public procurement law ranking of the JUVE Handbook of Commercial Law Firms for years and are the "first address on the market" for infrastructure according to "Law Firms in Germany".

Dr. Christopher Marx is a partner and member of the Public Sector and Public Procurement practice group. He advises the federal government, states, municipalities and companies on complex competition proceedings and innovative contract models. He is regularly recommended in public procurement law and the transport sector, including by Legal 500, Handelsblatt and JUVE.

For 13 years, HEUKING has been ranked number 1 among commercial law firms in public procurement law in the JUVE Handbook. Dr. Ute Jasper and Dr. Christopher Marx have received several awards in lawyer rankings, including Germany's Best Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Who's Who Legal and Wirtschaftswoche.