Die Länderbahn is a member of the Tarifverband der Bundeseigenen und Nichtbundeseigenen Eisenbahnen in Deutschland (Tariff association of federally-owned and non-federally-owned railways in Germany, TBNE).

One component of the project model was the reallocation of the public transport services within the framework of a competitive environment.

On 1 January 1998, Vogtlandbahn was acquired by Regental-Bahnbetriebs-GmbH and operated as an independent company under the umbrella of the Länderbahn group.

The diesel sets run on the common route under BOStrab procedures, so they were equipped with indicators and brake lights.

On 14 December 2003, Vogtlandbahn secured an agreement with DB Regio AG to use the Gera–Weida–Zeulenroda–Mehltheuer line and thus started a general traffic service on the Elstertalbahn between Gera, Greiz and Weischlitz, which previously had required a change.

Traffic had not increased between Schönberg and Schleiz, so that the Thuringian local transport authority was not willing to extend the contract for the operation.

There was no connection with the reduction in the support for regionalisation measures, which had been decided a few months earlier, since the end of the service was already anticipated.

Vogtlandbahn operated Regionalbahn services on behalf of DB Regio Nordostbayern from December 2006 until the takeover of the Dieselnetz Oberfranken (upper Fancononia diesel network) by agilis in June 2011 on the (Hof –) Münchberg–Helmbrechts and Lichtenfels–Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg routes, partly together with Deutsche Bahn, but also by itself.

The new owners were the Italian state railways (Ferrovie dello Stato) together with Luxembourg infrastructure fund Cube.

The core network of Vogtlandbahn in the Vogtlandkreis, west Saxony and east Thuringia was re-tendered by the transport authority in the spring of 2010.

The tendered Vogtland network includes the Hof–Falkenstein–Adorf, Mariánské Lázne–Plauen ob Bf–Zwickau Zentrum, Weischlitz–Gera and Zwickau Zentrum–Kraslice lines with an annual 3.16 million train-kilometres.

The brand name in the core network is vogtlandbahn (in lower case), despite the renaming of the company as Die Länderbahn.

At the timetable change on 8 December 2012, scheduled services ended between Zwotental and Adorf, which had recently only operated on weekends.

In March 2014, ZVON announced that Länderbahn would operate these services as part so-called Ostsachsennetz (East Saxon Network) under the brand name of Trilex.

RegioSprinters were only suitable for short journeys, they had thinly upholstered seats in a 2+3 formation and no toilets, their top speed was 100 km/h, though later all the trains crossing the Czech border were refitted to a higher standard.

New Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel multiple units began to be delivered from February 2012 to renew the vehicle fleet.

Since the timetable change in December 2014, the Länderbahn has also operated the Dresden–Bischofswerda–Bautzen–Görlitz and Dresden–Bischofswerda–Zittau–Liberec lines of the so-called Ostsachsennetzes (East Saxon network) under the brand name of trilex.

As a result of a tender called in 2005 by the Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft, a contract was awarded to Länderbahn in October 2005 for the operation of the service branded as the Arriva-Länderbahn-Express.

Länderbahn was also able to tender for the continuation of services on the Munich–Kempten–Oberstdorf/Lindau route, which they had already operated together with the Swiss SBB GmbH since December 2003 under the brand name of Allgäu-Express.

Länderbahn operates five services in eastern Bavaria between Hof, Schwandorf, Regensburg, Waldmünchen, Furth im Wald and Lam under the brand name of Oberpfalzbahn (German pronunciation: [ˈoːbɐˌpfaltsbaːn], lit.

Länderbahn operates four services in the Zwiesel region in the Bavarian Forest (Bayerischer Wald) under the brand name of Waldbahn (German pronunciation: [ˈvaltˌbaːn], lit.

The Waldbahn is part of the Bavarian Forest National Park transport plan and one of four reference lines of the Bayerischen Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG).

14 modernised Stadler Regio-Shuttle RS1 diesel railcars are currently under construction for the Waldbahn at the Viechtach locomotive depot.

Vogtlandbahn provided one of a few long-distance passenger services operated by private railways in Germany between 12 June 2005[6] and 30 September 2012.

The bus served the stations of Reichenbach, Zwickau, Chemnitz, Berlin-Schönefeld Flughafen and Berlin Zoologischer Garten.