The new contract covers the operation of regional services on the Hamburg-Eidelstedt - Neumünster, Norderstedt-Mitte - Ulzburg-Süd, and Elmshorn - Ulzburg-Süd lines from May 1 2017.

The contract allows for a 15% reduction in train-km purchased at the awarding authorities' discretion and specifically allows the withdrawal of AKN services between Hamburg-Eidelstedt and Kaltenkirchen on the line to Neumünster) in 2020 when Hamburg S-Bahn services are extended to Kaltenkirchen.

The new contract will also enable the reorganisation of the network once the S-Bahn extension is operational and this may include the withdrawal of services on the Norderstedt-Mitte - Ulzburg-Süd line as these exist primarily to provide connections at Norderstedt-Mitte with central Hamburg via the Hamburg U-Bahn network.

AKN is 99.89%-owned by the city of Hamburg and state of Schleswig-Holstein with some minority private shareholders.

Under the new contract all services will be operated using AKN's existing fleet of LHB-built bi-mode multiple units and 14 new class 622 DMUs delivered by Alstom in late 2015.