In short

Back in 2005 Arriva was awarded a 10-year contract for the Munich - Oberstdorf/Lindau, Munich - Regensburg and Furth-im-Wald - Hof relations. The company made a deal with Angel Trains (now Alpha Trains) for the purchase twelve brand new EuroRunner diesel-electrics. Since December 2007 these locos are in service on all relations, except for Munich - Regensburg, where Siemens ES 64 U4 locomotives are used.

An interesting fact is that these twelve locos are the first batch of EuroRunners that were delivered to an independent leasing company.

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The passenger services that are operated by these units are operated under the name ‘Alex’, an abbreviation of Arriva-Länderbahn-Express. Arriva took over these services from Länderbahn/SBB GmbH, which exploited them since December 2003 under the name Allgau Express, also ‘Alex’ in short. They used EuroRunner locomotives as well, which were hired from Siemens Dispolok.

The new ‘Alex’ trains have become a popular subject for railway photographers, as passenger trains hauled by locomotives slowly turn into a curiosity. The majority of rail operators nowadays choose for trainsets to operate renewed services. The ‘Alex’ is also appreciated by the real railway travelling purists. Refurbished, but classic coaches are being used, with classic compartments in the first class, and even a fully fledged bar, nicknamed ‘Alex-treff’, on board.

From December 2007 until December 2009, unit 223 072 was exploited by Regentalbahn Cargo, which is a freight operator and also property of Arriva. During that period the locomotive had the same base livery as 223 061 - 071, but with Regental Cargo logos on both sides. With the introduction of the new time table in December 2009, two more EuroRunners were needed for the Alex services; One unit was hired from MRCE Dispolok and the second vacancy was filled with the 072, which is running around with normal Alex logos since that moment.

Fleet list