The story
As part of the German rail reform after German reunification, regulation of regional train services passed from federal to state (Länder) control in 1996. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the state established regional rail authorities (Aufgabenträger). Two of them, Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and Zweckverband SPNV Ruhr-Lippe (ZRL) put the operation of route RB52, operated hitherto by Deutsche Bahn, out to tender as a pilot project. In 1996, the bidding consortium of Dortmunder Stadtwerke and Märkischer Verkehrsgesellschaft won this tender, they then founded the DME on 11 September 1997. After acquiring rolling stock, DME started operation on 30 May 1999. It was the first private railway (non-DB rail company) to win a competitive tender of rail operations in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2002, route RB52 was tendered out by VRR and ZRL once again, this time as part of the Sauerland-Netz, together with routes RE57 (Dortmund – Arnsberg – Bestwig – Winterberg), RB53 (Dortmund – Schwerte – Iserlohn) and RB54 (Unna – Fröndenberg – Menden – Neuenrade). DME took part in this competition, but lost to DB Regio NRW. Since 12 December 2004, that rail company has thus been running on the former DME route.
The company, which was registered at the Dortmund Amtsgericht under HRB 12798, was then dissolved on 10 January 2006, the specially trained employees seconded to DME in 1999 were taken over again by Dortmunder Stadtwerke or Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft and the four vehicles were sold. After the settlement of the transport contracts and the resolution of disputes regarding vehicle financing and the accidents, the company ceased to exist on 8 September 2011.
From Wikipedia’s article on Dortmund-Märkische Eisenbahn, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4