Comment by stefanlindbohm

Competition on the railways is mandated through EU law.

Most regional services are tendered to the (in theory) best operator. The details on how, both which governing body organises the tender and whether the trains are branded by the region or the operator, varies across Europe. In Germany, these contracts are operated by a mix of DB, foreign state-owned operators and private operators. DB sells tickets for all region-organised trains regardless of who is the current operator.

Most countries have decided to have no or limited tenders on long-distance trains. In Germany, government support is prohibited for long-distance.