Rail network of Germany
AnICE 3high-speed train approachingKöln Hauptbahnhof
Operation
National railway	Deutsche Bahn
Major operators	Transdev Germany Netinera
Statistics
Ridership	2.87 billion (2018)[1]
Passenger km	97.8 billion (2018)[1]
Freight	116 billiontkm (2018)[1]
System length
Total	33,399 km (20,753 mi) (2022, Deutsche Bahn only)[2]
Double track	18,556 km (11,530 mi) (2022, Deutsche Bahn only)[2]
Electrified	20,540 km (12,760 mi) (2022, Deutsche Bahn only)[2]
High-speed	1,658 km (1,030 mi)[3]
Track gauge
Main	1,435 mm /4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge
High-speed	standard gauge
Electrification
Main	15 kV 16.7 Hz
750 V DC	Berlin S-Bahn
1,200 V DC	Hamburg S-Bahn
Features
No. tunnels	1,079[4]
Tunnel length	168,121 m (551,578 ft)[4]
Map Map of the railway network in Germany as of 2020:   Main lines   Branch lines

Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly byDeutsche Bahn (DB,lit. 'German Railway'). As of 2021[update], therailway network inGermany (DB only) had a length of 33,399 km (20,753 mi), of which 20,540 km (12,760 mi) wereelectrified and 18,556 km (11,530 mi) weredouble track.^[2] About 1,658 km (1,030 mi) arehigh-speed railway lines.^[3] Germany has the 6thlongest railway network in the world, and the largest inEurope afterRussia.^[5]

Germany was ranked 4th among nationalEuropean rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use,quality of service andsafety.^[6] It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by bothpassengers andfreight, and good ratings for quality of service and safety.^[6] It also captured relatively high value in return for public investment withcost to performance ratios that outperform the average ratio for all European countries.^[6]

Germany'srail freight of 117 billion tons/kilometer meant it carried 17.6% of all inland German cargo in 2015.^[7]

Germany is a member of theInternational Union of Railways (UIC). TheUIC Country Code for Germany is 80.

Urban rail in Germany includesrapid transit (known asU-Bahn), commuter rail (known asS-Bahn),Stadtbahn (light rail),trams andfuniculars (e.g. inDresden).Suspension railways (Schwebebahn) are present in two cities,Dresden andWuppertal, in addition to theH-Bahn at Düsseldorf Airport and Dortmund University. Stuttgart has anurban rack railway.

Island railways are present onFehmarn,Sylt andWangerooge.

In 2018, railways in Germany transported the following numbers of passengers and freight.^[1]

Deutsche Bahn (DB), a state-owned private company, is the main provider of railway service. In recent years a number of competitors have started business, such asSWEG,ODEG orFlixTrain. DB runs several semi-independent divisions, such asDB Fernverkehr (lit. 'DB Long-Distance Traffic'),DB Regio (with several subsidiaries) andDB Cargo. DB mostly offersstate-funded regional services, but some companies offer long-distance services as well. In 2016, DB had a share of 67% in the regional railway market and 68.6% in the inland freight market.^[8]

As of October 2016, there were 452railway operators registered in Germany, among them 124 regional passenger operators, 20 long-distance operators, and 163 freight operators.^[8]Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of buses and passenger trains in Germany. AlsoNetinera (previouslyArriva Deutschland) operates several railway lines in Germany.

In 2018, public sector funding accounted for 25.6% of the cost of short-distance passenger transport including all rail and bus services.^[9] The long-distance market generally does not require government funding.^[10]

In June, July and August 2022, there was a special ticket called the9-Euro-Ticket, which was a ticket with which passengers could travel for€9 per month on local and regional transport throughout Germany. The initiative aimed to reduce energy consumption during theglobal energy crisis in 2021–2022 and alleviate the costs of living for people. Some criticized the enterprise, saying it led to overcrowding of trains at some points

TheDeutschlandticket replaces the 9-Euro-Ticket. This subscription public transport ticket costs €49 and is valid for all local public transport in Germany. The price for theDeutschlandticket will be raised to €58 per month in January 2025.^[11]

TheEuropean Union Commission issued a TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) on 30 May 2002, (2002/735/EC) that sets out standard platform heights for passenger steps on high-speed rail. These standard heights are 550 mm (22 in) and 760 mm (30 in).^{[12][note 1]}

In Germany new builds are 550 mm and 760 mm.Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has new builds with 550 mm.^[14]Hesse,NRW, Berlin had new builds with 760 mm.^[14]

In 2014 (local passenger) and 2015 (other), therolling stock used in Germany included the following numbers of vehicle types.^[16]

• 
  ICE 3 high-speed train ofDB
• 
  DBClass 146hauling double-decker coaches
• 
  Class 620 DMU of DB
• 
  Stadler FLIRT EMU ofVias
• 
  DB Class 462 EMU of BWegt
• 
  Siemens Mireo ofArverio

Long-distance services ofDeutsche Bahn (DB) are operated by itsDB Fernverkehr (lit. 'DB Long-Distance Traffic') division:

• InterCity-Express (ICE) –high speed train, largelynational but some routes to theNetherlands,Belgium,Switzerland,Austria,France, andDenmark
• EuroCity (EC) – international long-distance trainsto larger cities in Europe.
• InterCity (IC) – national long-distance trains
• EuroNight (EN) – internationalnight trains

InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 to replace the formerSchnellzug (lit. 'fast train') andInterCity, were discontinued in Germany in 2003.

TheUrlaubsExpress (lit. 'Holiday Express'), national night trains to theAlps and theBaltic Sea during vacation times, were abolished in 2007.

Deutsche Bahn is gradually increasing the percentage of InterCity-Express services and downgrading the remaining InterCity services to the role formerly played by the InterRegio.

• EuroStar Red (previouslyThalys) – high-speed services to Belgium and France, using modified FrenchTGV trains.
• Eurocity /InterCity – trains operated by non-German companies that cross the border
• EuroCity-Express (ECE) – on two routes (Frankfurt (Main) –Basel –Milano andMunich –Zurich) since 2020, operated bySwiss Federal Railways (runs asEuroCity/EC in Switzerland and Italy)
• Flixtrain – operates a handful of long distance trains; Flixtrain is a subsidiary ofFlixbus, mostly an operator oflong distance buses
• RailJet (RJ) – operated byAustrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), runs services to Austria
• NightJet (NJ) – a sleeper train operated by ÖBB to destinations in mainland Europe
• WESTbahn – provides services to Austria

Cisalpino (discontinued in December 2006) provided services to Switzerland andItaly.

Veolia Verkehr (Now merged intoTransdev) offered services on certain former InterRegio routes (Harz-Berlin-Express,Ostseeland Express) until 2014.

Regional and local rail traffic is organised and funded (as the fares usually do not cover the running costs) by thefederal states. The usual procedure underEU legislation is to award the contract to the lowest bid by means of a tender procedure. The respective states are free to announce short- or long-term contracts as well as to stipulate further conditions such as on rolling stock. In recent years, many bids have been won by private rail companies likeNordWestBahn orNetinera, although some states have awarded long-term contracts to localDB Regio subsidiaries. The train types for regional and local traffic are as follows (see also:List of suburban and commuter rail systems).

• Regional-Express (RE) andInterRegio-Express (IRE) – medium-distance semi-fast trains for regional services
• Regionalbahn (RB) – basic local service, usually calling at all stations
• Metropolexpress (MEX) – local train in the state ofBaden-Württemberg
• S-Bahn (S) – suburban rail services mostly provided by Deutsche Bahn
• U-Bahn (U) – underground train services provided by the various cities' transport bodies (not Deutsche Bahn)
• Tram (Straßenbahn) /light rail services –tramways are in place in several cities, in a few major cities these run underground in the city centre (often calledStadtbahn, especially if they have been upgraded to railway standards)

Previously, there were also other regional train types, theStadt-Express (SE), formerly namedCity-Bahn (CB).

State	Services
Baden-Württemberg	List of railway routes in Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria	List of railway routes in Bavaria
Berlin  Brandenburg	List of railway routes in Berlin and Brandenburg
Bremen	Bremen S-Bahn
Hamburg	Hamburg S-Bahn /U-Bahn
Hesse	List of railway routes in Hesse
Lower Saxony	List of railway routes in Lower Saxony
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	List of railway routes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
North Rhine-Westphalia	List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhineland-Palatinate	List of rail services in Rhineland-Palatinate
Saarland	—
Saxony	List of railway routes in Saxony
Saxony-Anhalt	List of railway routes in Saxony-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein	List of railway routes in Schleswig-Holstein
Thuringia	List of railway routes in Thuringia

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Germany has rail links to all of its nine neighbouring nations. These countries use the same mainlinegauge (1,435 mm /4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge), althoughelectrification (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz) and other systems such assignalling may differ.

• Denmark — voltage change to25 kV AC 50 Hz
• Poland — voltage change to3 kV DC
• Czech Republic — voltage change to 3 kV DC
• Austria — same voltage
• Switzerland — same voltage, but differentpantographs
• France — voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz (no direct connection to France's1500 V DC network)
• Luxembourg— voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz
• Belgium — voltage change to 3 kV DC
• The Netherlands — voltage change to 1500 V DC or 25 kV AC 50 Hz (atEmmerich /Zevenaar; for trains toArnhem, a further change to 1500 V DC follows)

There are alsotrain ferries (carrying onlygoods wagons) betweenRostock andTrelleborg (Sweden) across theBaltic Sea.^[17] Until December 2019, there were also train ferries carryingEuroCity andICE services betweenPuttgarden (Fehmarn island) andRødby, Denmark (Vogelfluglinie). TheLake Constance train ferries linked Germany with Switzerland (1869−1976) and Austria (1884−1917) acrossLake Constance (Bodensee).

The table includes operational cross-border services,^{[needs update]} most of which run either asEuroCity (EC),EuroCity-Express (ECE),InterCity (IC),Intercity-Express (ICE) orRegionalexpress (RE). Local border services are not listed.

Service	Route	Countries
Eurostar	Dortmund —Köln Hbf —Brussels-South —Paris Nord	Germany –Belgium –France
EC 27	(Westerland /Kiel —)Hamburg —Berlin Hbf —Prague (—Bratislava —Budapest)	Germany –Czech Republic (–Slovakia –Hungary)
EC/RJX 32/ICE 32	Münster /Dortmund —Stuttgart —Bregenz —Feldkirch — Innsbruck	Germany –Austria
EC/RJ 62/ICE 62	Münster / Dortmund /Frankfurt (Main) —Stuttgart —Salzburg —Klagenfurt	Germany – Austria
ECE 85	Frankfurt (Main) — Basel —Lucerne —Milan	Germany –Switzerland –Italy
ECE 88	Munich — Bregenz — Zurich	Germany – Austria – Switzerland
EC 89	Munich —Innsbruck —Verona —Bologna	Germany – Austria – Italy
EC 95	Berlin —Warsaw Wschodnia /Gdynia	Germany –Poland
ICE 11	(Hamburg-Altona —) Berlin —Leipzig Hbf — Frankfurt (Main) —Stuttgart Hbf —München Hbf —Innsbruck Hbf	Germany – Austria
ICE 12	Berlin — Frankfurt (Main) —Basel SBB —Interlaken Ost /Zurich HB	Germany –Switzerland
IC 17	(Warnemünde —)Rostock Hbf — Berlin — Chemnitz /Wien Hbf	Germany (– Austria)
ICE 20	Kiel / Hamburg-Altona —Fulda — Basel —Chur	Germany – Switzerland
ICE 24	Hamburg-Altona —Hannover Hbf — Munich —Wörgl Hbf —Schwarzach-St. Veit	Germany – Austria
ICE 27	Berlin —Dresden Hbf — Prague —Wien Hbf —Graz	Germany – Czech Republic – Austria
IC 37	Düsseldorf — Köln Hbf —Koblenz Hbf —Trier Hbf —Luxembourg	Germany –Luxembourg
ICE 43	Amsterdam / Dortmund —Cologne — Basel	(Netherlands –) Germany – Switzerland
ICE 60	(Basel Bad Bf —)Karlsruhe —Munich	(Switzerland –) Germany
IC 75	Copenhagen — Hamburg	Denmark – Germany
IC 77	Amsterdam —Berlin Ostbahnhof	Netherlands – Germany
ICE 78	Amsterdam — Frankfurt	Netherlands – Germany
ICE 79	Brussels-South — Frankfurt (Main)	Belgium – Germany
ICE/TGV 82	Paris East — Saarbrücken / Frankfurt (Main)	France – Germany
ICE/TGV 83	Paris East —Strasbourg-Ville — Munich	France – Germany
ICE/TGV 84	Marseille — Frankfurt (Main)	France – Germany
IC 87	Stuttgart —Singen —Konstanz / Zurich	Germany (– Switzerland)
ICE/RJX 90	Budapest —Vienna West — Munich — Frankfurt (Main)	Hungary – Austria – Germany
ICE 91	Dortmund/Hamburg-Altona —Nürnberg Hbf —Vienna	Germany – Austria
blue	Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — Vienna West	Germany – Austria
green	Lindau-Insel — Feldkirch — Innsbruck — Vienna West	Germany – Austria
RE 3	Basel Bad Bf —Waldshut —Schaffhausen —Friedrichshafen Stadt /Ulm Hbf	Germany – Switzerland
RE 11	Koblenz — Trier Hbf — Luxembourg	Germany – Luxembourg
RE 25	Munich — Prague	Germany – Czech Republic
EuroNight	Berlin / Hamburg —Odense —Malmö	Germany – Denmark –Sweden
EN Stuttgart-Zagreb	Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — Ljubljana —Zagreb /Rijeka	Germany – Austria –Slovenia –Croatia
NightJet	Berlin / Hamburg — Zurich	Germany – Switzerland
NightJet	Hamburg / Düsseldorf — Vienna / Innsbruck	Germany – Austria
NightJet	Vienna —Břeclav —Berlin-Charlottenburg /Warsaw Wschodnia	Austria – Czech Republic – Germany / Poland
NightJet	(Stuttgart —) Munich — Salzburg — Venice /Rome	Germany – Austria – Italy
European Sleeper	Prague —Dresden — Berlin — Amsterdam — Brussels	Czech Republic – Germany – Netherlands – Belgium

There are fourrapid transit (U-Bahn) systems in Germany:

The following is a list ofS-Bahn systems that serve, or served, stations in Germany (cross-border systems are marked with an*):

The list below summarizestram-train /light rail /premetro (Stadtbahn) systems in Germany (systems included in theRhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn are marked with an*):

The earliest form of railways,wagonways, were developed in Germany in the 16th century. A wagonway operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 byGeorgius Agricola (image right) in his workDe re metallica.^[18] This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the cart fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagonsHunde ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks.^[19] Such wagonways soon became very popular in Europe.

Modern German rail history officially began with the opening of the steam-hauledBavarian Ludwig Railway betweenNuremberg andFürth on 7 December 1835. The first long distance railway was theLeipzig-Dresden railway, completed on 7 April 1839. TheDresden Leipzig railway station was the first railway station in Dresden and was the terminus of the first German long-distance railway Leipzig–Dresden. The following years saw a rapid growth: By the year 1845, there were already more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of railroads in Germany, and ten years later that number was above 8,000.

German unification in 1871 stimulated consolidation, nationalization into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth.^[20] Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialization, and so heavy lines crisscrossed theRuhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to the major ports ofHamburg andBremen. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France.^[21] 1915Leipzig Hauptbahnhof had become one of the largest stations worldwide.

Under theWeimar Republic, theDeutsche Reichseisenbahnen (laterDeutsche Reichsbahn) was created on 1 April 1920.

During theSecond World War, austere versions of the standard locomotives were produced to speed up construction times and minimise the use of imported materials. These were the so-called war locomotives (Kriegslokomotiven andÜbergangskriegslokomotiven). Absent a good highway network and trucks, the Germans relied heavily on the railways, supplemented by slower river and canal transport for bulk goods.^[22]

After the war, the German railway system was split into theDeutsche Bundesbahn ofWest Germany and theDeutsche Reichsbahn ofEast Germany.

In 1989, theBerlin Wall fell. Train frequency rapidly increased on the existing East/West corridors; closed links which had formerly crossed the border were re-opened. On 3 October 1990,Germany was reunified; however, this was not immediately the case with the railways. Administrative and organisational problems led to the decision to completely re-organise and reconnect Germany's railways. The so-calledBahnreform (Railway Reform) came into effect on 1 January 1994, when the two state railways were formally reunited to form the current German Railway Corporation (Deutsche Bahn).^[23] At the time theBahnreform was seen as a "first step" towards future railway privatization and Deutsche Bahn operates as ajoint stock company (AG) even though the federal governmentowns all stocks. However, plans for privatization were delayed by theGreat Recession and ultimately cancelled altogether. The railway sector was however liberalized insofar as Deutsche Bahn lost its railway monopoly status in 1996;^[24] regional services are now subject to open bidding ("Regionalisierung" or "regionalization", as the responsibility for local rail services was transferred from the federal government to the 16 state governments) whereas long distance services are subject toopen access operation. However, while the share of DB in the market of regional rail has declined since 1994 - in the context of an overall expanding market of regional rail service - the vast majority of long distance trains are still operated by or in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn AG.

The German railways were long protected from competition from intercity buses on journeys over 50 km (31 mi). However, in 2013, this protection was removed,^[25] leading to a significant shift from rail to bus for long journeys.^[26]

• 2007, by the locomotive engineers union
• 2021, byDeutsche Bahn workers

• Federal Railway Authority
• German Railway Union
• Transport in Germany
• Rail transport by country
• Rail transport in Europe
• Railway divisions in Germany

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRail transport in Germany.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forRail travel in Germany.

• German rail transport gallery
• German Railway Timetable

• Rail transport in Germany

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