Üstra
Encyclopedia
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
in the city of Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
From 2003 to 2006, it had outsourced
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
its operations, but officially resumed as a service provider on January 1, 2007.
History
Üstra was originally the abbreviation for Überlandwerke und Straßenbahnen Hannover AG. The company also provided electricity to private customers as well as operating busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
and tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
services - not only in the city of Hannover but also to the outlying villages and small towns. This field was spun off in 1929 (becoming the HASTRA). In 1960, the company changed its name to Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe (ÜSTRA) AG, then to ÜSTRA Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe AG in 1980, changing the word üstra to lowercase in 1996.
The rural tram lines which were mostly singletrack brought coal (from Barsinghausen) , milk and farm produce to the city but this business dwindled down with the motorisation in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2001, ownership of the rail network, tunnels and stations of the Hanover Stadtbahn
Hanover Stadtbahn
The Hanover Stadtbahn is a Stadtbahn light rail system in the city of Hanover, Germany that opened in September 1975, gradually replacing the city's tramway network over the course of the following 25 years. As of 2005, it transports 115 million passengers per year...
was transferred to Infrastrukturgesellschaft Region Hannover GmbH.
Company structure
From 2004 to New Year's Eve 2006, the operative business was handled by intalliance AG. üstra had transferred more than 1900 employees to intalliance and acted as a holding companyHolding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
, having owned significant shares in intalliance AG, the TransTec holdings (providing technical services) and the protec service GmbH (the former security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
branch of üstra). Its shares in htp GmbH, a local telecommunications provider, were sold off in 2004.