DB was founded after the merger betweenDeutsche Bundesbahn and the East GermanDeutsche Reichsbahn in 1994 after the unification of Germany and has been operating ever since.Deutsche Bahn is the second-largest transport company in Germany, after the German postal and logistics companyDeutsche Post /DHL. DB provides both long-distance and regional transport, serving around 132 million long distance passengers and 1.6 billion regional passengers in 2022. In 2022, DB transported 222 million tons of cargo.[5]
The group is divided into several companies, includingDB Fernverkehr (long-distance passenger),DB Regio (local passenger services) andDB Cargo (rail freight). The Group subsidiaryDB InfraGO also operates large parts of the Germanrailway infrastructure, making it the largest rail network in Europe.
The company generates about half of its totalrevenue from operatingrail transport, with the other half of the business comprising further transport andlogistics businesses, as well as various service providers. The company generates further revenue through public transport contracts and support services for infrastructure maintenance and expansion. The Deutsche Bahn Group is divided into various organizational units that perform their tasks with subsidiaries.
DB Personenverkehr is the unit that manages passenger travel within Germany. Originally calledReise & Touristik (English: Travel and Tourism), this group is responsible for the managing, servicing and running of German passenger services. This group is divided intoDB Fernverkehr andDB Regio.[citation needed]
DB Fernverkehr AG is a semi-independent division ofDeutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of German Federal Railways under the name ofDB Reise & Touristik and renamed in 2003.
DB Fernverkehr operates allIntercity Express andIntercity trains inGermany as well as in some neighboring countries and severalEuroCity andEuroCityExpress trains throughoutEurope. Unlike its sister companiesDB Regio andDB Cargo,DB Fernverkehr still holds ade facto monopoly in its segment of the market as it operates hundreds of trains per day, while all competitors' long-distance services combined amount to no more than 10–15 trains per day.[citation needed]
AdditionallyDB Fernverkehr operated a few long-distance coach services throughout Germany, calledIC Bus, which since have been terminated.[citation needed]
DB Regio AG is the subsidiary ofDeutsche Bahn that operates passenger trains on short and medium distances in Germany. Unlike its long-distance counterpart,DB Fernverkehr, it does not operate trains on its own account. Traffic is ordered and paid for by theBundesländer (states) or their respective regional train operation supervisors.
Some states have awarded long-term contracts toDB Regio (usually 10 to 15 years), in others, DB Regio's operations are decreasing, in North Rhine-Westphalia, their market share is expected to be lower than 50%.DB Regio rail services are divided into several regional companies:
The Transport and Logistics division acted in the market with the business unitsDB Schenker andDB Cargo, which were combined under the umbrella of DB Schenker, and the Intermodal division, which operates in combined transport. In 2016, rail freight transport was separated from logistics andDB Schenker Rail was renamedDB Cargo.
In cooperation with the logistics providertime:matters, DB also offers the transport of shipments weighing up to 20 kg on its EC/IC/ICE trains.[6]
The infrastructure division was divided into theDB Netz (rail infrastructure),DB Station&Service (stations and services) andDB Energie (Energy) business units. At the end of December 2023, DB Netz merged with DB Station&Service to createDB InfraGO AG. The new company is intended to reduce poor communication between the two previously separate infrastructure firms and to be more 'oriented towards the common good.' In fact, that is what the GO in InfraGO stands for in German: 'Gemeinwohlorientierte.'[7]
DB Engineering & Consulting, which is responsible for construction supervision, construction planning andmaintenance, is also assigned to this department without being part of a business area. Via its subsidiary DB Engineering & Consulting, DB signed amemorandum of understanding with Iranian rail operator Bonyad Eastern Railways (BonRail) in May 2017 and shortly after a consulting contract withIslamic Republic of Iran Railways; both projects were abandoned after the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran and said firms doing business with Iran would be barred from doing business with the United States.[8]
TheCalifornia High-Speed Rail Authority's (CHSRA) board approved on 15 November 2017 an early train operator contract with DB Engineering & Consulting USA.[9] The firm is the U.S. arm of Deutsche Bahn AG. As early train operator, DB Engineering & Consulting will assist CHSRA with planning, designing and implementing the state's high-speed rail program.
Deutsche Bahn purchasedArriva in August 2010 off theLondon Stock Exchange.[10][11] To satisfy theEuropean Commission, Arriva's German operations were rebrandedNetinera and sold.[12] As of July 2022, Arriva operated 15,700 buses and 800 railway vehicles in 14 European countries, mainly in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[13] In 2019, Deutsche Bahn unsuccessfully tried to sell the business.[14] In October 2023, Deutsche Bahn agreed on terms to sell Arriva toI Squared Capital, with the transaction scheduled to be completed in 2024.[15] The sale was completed on 4 June 2024 at a reported price of £1.4bn.[16]
DB also has interests abroad, owning the United Kingdom's largest rail freight operator,DB Cargo UK, which also operates theBritish Royal Train[17] and also has interests inEastern Europe. It is possible to obtain train times for any journey in Europe fromDeutsche Bahn's website.[18]
Therailway network in Germany dates back to 1835 when the first tracks were laid on a 6 km (3.7 mi) route between Nuremberg andFürth. TheDeutsche Reichsbahn operated from 1920[19] through theWeimar andNazi eras until 1949,[20] when it was split between East and West Germany into two successor entities,Deutsche Reichsbahn andDeutsche Bundesbahn, respectively.[21] They remained separate throughout the Cold War era division of Germany, and joined after the 1989 fall of theBerlin Wall, andGerman reunification in 1990. On 1 January 1994Deutsche Reichsbahn andDeutsche Bundesbahn were merged to form one company,Deutsche Bahn, the successor organisation to the Reichsbahn.[22][23][24][25] At the same time,Deutsche Bahn adopted its current logo andDB abbreviation. Kurt Weidemann modernised the logo and typographerErik Spiekermann designed a new corporate font known asDB Type. When Deutsche Bahn was formed in January 1994, it became a joint stock-company, and was designed to operate the railways of both the former East and West Germany after unification in October 1990 as a single, uniform, and private company.[26] There are three main periods of development in this unified German railway: its formation, its early years (1994–1999), and the period from 1999 to the present.
Originally, DBAG had its headquarters inFrankfurt am Main but moved toPotsdamer Platz in central Berlin in 1996, where it occupies a 26-storey office tower designed byHelmut Jahn at the eastern end of theSony Centre and namedBahntower. As the lease was to expire in 2010, DB had announced plans to relocate toBerlin Hauptbahnhof, and in 2007 a proposal for a new headquarters by3XN Architects won an architectural competition which also includedFoster + Partners,Dominique Perrault andAuer + Weber.[27] However, these plans were put on hold due to the2008 financial crisis, and theBahntower lease was extended.[28] Construction of the new headquarters building was started in 2017 under the title "Cube Berlin" according to the designs by 3XN. Finished in February 2020, the Cube will house the legal offices of Deutsche Bahn, but not become the main headquarters.[29]
The second step of theBahnreform (railway reform) was carried out in 1999. All rolling stock, track, personnel, and real assets were divided between the subsidiaries of DBAG:DB Reise & Touristik AG (long-distance passenger service, later renamedDB Station & Service AG (operating the stations)). This new organisational scheme was introduced not least to implementEuropean Community directive 91/440/EEC that requires open access operations on railway lines by companies other than those that own the rail infrastructure.
In December 2007, DB reorganised again, bringing all passenger services into itsDB Bahn arm, logistics underDB Schenker and infrastructure and operations underDB Netze.
The DB is owned by the Federal Republic. By theConstitution, the Federal Republic is required to retain (directly or indirectly) a majority of the infrastructure (the presentDB Netze) stocks.
In 2008, it was agreed to "float" a portion of the business, meaning an end to the 100% share the German Federal Republic had in it, with a plan that 25% of the overall share would be sold to the private sector.[30] However the onset of the2008 financial crisis saw this cancelled.[31]
In 2014, the Jewish community of Thessaloniki demanded that theDeutsche Bahn, which is the successor of theDeutsche Reichsbahn, should reimburse the heirs of Greek Holocaust victims of Thessaloniki for train fares that they were forced to pay for their deportation from Thessaloniki toAuschwitz and Treblinka between March and August 1943.[32][33][needs update]
In June 2018 controversy grew in theUnited Kingdom over widespread cancellations of railway services and numerous delayed services operated by Deutsche Bahn in Britain, under itsNorthern brand. This resulted in Britain's Minister of Transport, Chris Grayling, setting up an enquiry into whether the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary had breached its contractual agreement to provide railway services in the north of England.[34][needs update]
In 2024, Deutsche Bahn faced significant operational challenges during theEuro 2024 football tournament, including frequent train delays, cancellations, and infrastructure issues.[35][36] The rail carrier reported a €1 billion half year net loss stemming from investments to repair its rail network, strikes and bad weather in July of the same year. As a result, Deutsche Bahn announced that they would shed 30,000 administrative jobs, roughly equal to 9% of their workforce.[37]
In September 2024, the company came to an agreement withDSV of Denmark, a logistics company; in the agreement, DSV will acquireSchenker from Deutsche Bahn for $15.84 billion.[38][39]
ICE (Intercity-Express) for high-speed long-distance train services between major cities and regions. Certain routes also cross European borders into the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria.
EC (EuroCity) for intercity trains that cross borders, and connect Germany with other countries. Can also be operated by foreign state railways.
IC (InterCity) for long-distancesemi-high-speed services that connect regions and cities. IC services are slightly lower in class than ICE services, with trains reaching lower speeds (average around 160 – 220 km/h) and with more frequent stops. On some IC routes the trains use legacy railway lines instead of the high-speed lines the ICE takes. International IC services are usually operated asEuroCity.
Just as ICE, EC and (few) IC cross European borders, train categories of other operators cross into Germany and are operated in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn:
RE (Regional-Express) serve regions and connects cities, and do not stop at every station on the route.
RB (Regionalbahn) stop at all stations on the route (except where S-Bahn is available) and are often the most basic train service available.
S (S-Bahn) is a type ofrapid transit for larger cities and stop at all stations.S-Bahn operate high-frequency services and are usually characterised by crossing through the city centre with dense station spacing.[41]
There are several other operators in Germany which sometimes offer other categories, also, a local transport authority or tariff associations might brand the trains in a different way than DB does. For example, in the Nuremberg region, RE and RB trains are not differentiated, but called R instead. In some regions, such asVerkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg, private operators do use the RE and RB labels, in others, such asSaxony, they do not. In online and print information systems of DB, private trains officially labelled RB and RE by their operators, might get a different label, for example "ABR" for trains operated byAbellio, though on platforms, trains and maps or timetables issued by the local transport authority overseeing regional train services, these abbreviations usually do not appear.
D (D-Zug orSchnellzug, abbreviated fromDurchgangszug) was theexpress train category and used to be the highest train category. It was replaced by IC and the even faster ICE. The trains of theSyltShuttle plus car shuttle service connecting the island ofSylt with the mainland are still officially referred to as D trains
E (Eilzug) was thesemi-fast service offering faster journeys than normal passenger trains but not at such long distances and speed as D trains, though there were some quite long running E trains. No direct successor, would be located between RE and IC.
IR (InterRegio), set between RE and IC was meant to connect cities and regions at a lower price, but also be used for local traffic. Replaced partly by IC, RE and IRE.
MET (Metropolitan) was a luxury train service between Hamburg and Cologne. The two special MET train sets are now used for IC and ICE services, and does still have a comfort level above the regular IC and ICE coaches.
N (Nahverkehrszug), the most basic form of train service stopping at all stations. When all local train services werevertaktet, i.e. operating at a fixed interval (mostly one train per hour), they were rebranded as RB.
SE (Stadt-Express) operated as a mixture of RE and RB: trains skipped many stations in urban areas but made all stops in the countryside. Rebranded as RE and RB. In some regions, such as Rhine-Main (Frankfurt,Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund), the local transit authority advertised trains as SE. Internally, DB classified them as either RE or RB, but even DB trains display "SE" on their destination boards. This ceased in December 2016.
DB offers two different pricing models for single or return tickets for routes that include long-distance trains:
TheFlexpreis (originallyNormalpreis): gives full flexibility, i.e., all trains on the given date can be used on the chosen route. This price is independent of the time of purchase for a given route and tickets are reimbursable prior to the day of departure.
TheSparpreis andSuper-Sparpreis are generally cheaper tickets that must be purchased in advance and are only valid for a specific connection.
Ticket prices generally rise degressively over distance, particularly for Sparpreise and Supersparpreise.[citation needed] Seat reservations are included only for first class tickets and seating capacity is not always assured, even for tickets valid on one particular connection only.
Local trains (S, RB, RE, IRE) also accept tickets issued bylocal transport associations, which can also be used on buses, trams, andU-Bahn trains.
DB offers concessionary fares with theBahnCard discount cards, which are available asBahnCard 25 (25% discount on Flexpreis and Sparpreis),BahnCard 50 (50% discount on Flexpreis and 25% discount on Sparpreis), andBahnCard 100 (unlimited travel on all Deutsche Bahn trains, a few private train companies and also in many local transport associations).
Other special tickets, such as theLänder-Tickets ("state tickets"), which give unlimited journeys on local trains and in many transport associations within a state, andInterrail are also available. These Länder-Tickets offer group tickets, where up to five people can travel on a single ticket.[42]
^Paterson, Tony (2 April 2012)."German railway fears flood of lawsuits over Holocaust trains".The Independent. London.Archived from the original on 7 May 2021.The German railway company Deutsche Bahn has engaged a New York law firm to fight off compensation claims that it might face under proposed legislation enabling Holocaust victims and their relatives to sue for damages in US courts. The state-owned network is the main successor to the Nazi-run Deutsche Reichsbahn which, along with other railways in German-occupied Europe, deported millions of Jews to death camps during the Second World War.
^"Holocaust survivor launches legal claim against German railway".The Guardian. London. 30 July 2020.Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved7 May 2021.The scale of the Holocaust was only possible due to the efficiency and scale of the German railways. In January 1943, the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, wrote to Albert Ganzenmüller, the secretary of state for transport and the deputy director of the Reichsbahn, pleading for more train stock. "If I have any hope of quickly dealing with matters, I must have more haulage trains. Help me to get more," he said. Ganzenmüller, an early member of the Nazi party, was the only member of the railway to go on trial. On his first day in court in 1973 he had a heart attack and was declared medically unfit. He died in 1996. After the war, the German Democratic Republic in East Germany took over the name of the Deutsche Reichsbahn for its railway system. Today's Deutsche Bahn was created in 1994 after German reunification and the East German railway's merger with the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn.
