Abellio Deutschland was formed by the Essen public transit company (EVAG, today part of Ruhrbahn) in 2004.

In 2005, British investment company Star Capital Partners purchased a 75% share in Abellio from the City of Essen.

The NRW network stretched from Gelsenkirchen to Bochum, from Essen to Siegen and Iserlohn via Hagen as well as from Wuppertal to Solingen via Remscheid (line S7).

[7] In December 2016, it commenced operating along the Lower Rhine network between Arnhem in the Netherlands and Düsseldorf / Mönchengladbach and Bocholt.

[8][9] In December 2016, Abellio NRW commenced operating a 12-year concession to operate Niederrhein-Netz services using the Oberhausen–Arnhem railway covering the Rhein-IJssel-Express (RE19), Arnhem – Zevenaar – Emmerich – Wesel – Oberhausen – Duisburg – Düsseldorf Airport – Düsseldorf and the Emscher-Niederrhein-Bahn (RB35), Mönchengladbach – Krefeld – Wesel.

[33] In April 2013, Abellio Deutschland announced it would focus on rail transport and sell its three bus companies.