GERMANY: Bayern railway authority BEG and Rhein-Main transport body RMV have awarded both lots of the Mainfranken regional rail operating contract to Benex Regionalverkehr, following an objection by incumbent DB Regio. Benex already operates two sets of local passenger services in Bayern under the Agilis brand. Mainfranken S-BahnThe routes covered by the tendering process carry various services radiating from Würzburg, some of which extend into Hesse, which is RMV’s area of responsibility. The package includes services RE10 (Würzburg – Neustadt (Aisch) – Nürnberg), RE54 (Frankfurt-am-Main – Würzburg – Schweinfurt – Bamberg), and RE55 which links Frankfurt with Würzburg. Also covered are various local services around Würzburg, which are to be rebranded as a regional S-Bahn network when the new contract starts.