It seems very clear that regional contracts lasting up to 15 years will in future have to allow for more financial adaptation to deal with events that could not be foreseen at the moment of tendering, if insolvencies of this kind are to be prevented. At the beginning of December, it was apparent that Abellio would lose almost three-quarters of its operations in Germany in a matter of weeks. The NRW concessions amounting to 20.6 million train-km or 40.8% of the total are being terminated, as are DISA and STN, which together account for another 15.8 million train-km or 31.2%. That leaves Abellio with EMIL and STS, totalling 14.1 million train-km, or just 28% of its former business - assuming that the company still wants to continue operating them.
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