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Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn (DB, lit. 'German Railway'). As of 2021[update], the railway network in Germany (DB only) had a length of 33,399 km (20,753 mi), of which 20,540 km (12,760 mi) were electrified and 18,556 km (11,530 mi) were double track.[2] About 1,658 km (1,030 mi) are high-speed railway lines.[3] Germany has the 6th longest railway network in the world, and the largest in Europe after Russia.[5]
| Rail network of Germany | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| 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 billion tkm (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 in standard 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] | ||||
| |||||
Germany was ranked 4th among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety.[6] It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by both passengers and freight, and good ratings for quality of service and safety.[6] It also captured relatively high value in return for public investment with cost to performance ratios that outperform the average ratio for all European countries.[6]
Germany's rail freight of 117 billion tons/kilometer meant it carried 17.6% of all inland German cargo in 2015.[7]
Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.
Urban rail in Germany includes rapid transit (known as U-Bahn), commuter rail (known as S-Bahn), Stadtbahn (light rail), trams and funiculars (e.g. in Dresden). Suspension railways (Schwebebahn) are present in two cities, Dresden and Wuppertal, in addition to the H-Bahn at Düsseldorf Airport and Dortmund University. Stuttgart has an urban rack railway.
In 2018, railways in Germany transported the following numbers of passengers and freight.[1]
| Passenger/payload-distance | Passenger/payload | Average distance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger | Long-distance | 42,886,000,000 pkm | 148,629,000 | 289 km (180 mi) |
| Local | 54,919,000,000 pkm | 2,724,800,000 | 20 km (12 mi) | |
| Sum | 97,805,000,000 pkm | 2,873,429,000 | 34 km (21 mi) | |
| Freight | 116,273,000,000 tkm | 354,430,000 t | 328 km (204 mi) | |
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 as SWEG, ODEG or FlixTrain. DB runs several semi-independent divisions, such as DB Fernverkehr (lit. 'DB Long-Distance Traffic'), DB Regio (with several subsidiaries) and DB Cargo. DB mostly offers state-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 452 railway 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. Also Netinera (previously Arriva 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 the 9-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 the global 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
The Deutschlandticket 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 the Deutschlandticket will be raised to €58 per month in January 2025.[11]
The European 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]
| Gauge | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Metric (mm) | Imperial | |
| 1,800 | 5 ft 10+7⁄8 in | Oberweißbacher Bergbahn (funicular section only)[15] | |
| Irish gauge | 1,600 | 5 ft 3 in | Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840–1855[15] |
| Russian gauge | 1,520 | 4 ft 11+5⁄6 in | Only at Sassnitz/Mukran ferry terminal for freight train ferries to Klaipėda and Baltijsk |
| 1,458 | 4 ft 9+2⁄5 in | Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe AG | |
| 1,450 | 4 ft 9+1⁄5 in | Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG | |
| Standard gauge | 1,435 | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in | The standard gauge both domestically and internationally |
| Metre gauge | 1,000 | 3 ft 3+3⁄8 in | Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, trams |
| 900 | 2 ft 11+7⁄16 in | Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn Molli | |
| 750 | 2 ft 5+1⁄2 in | Lößnitzgrundbahn; Weißeritztalbahn; Döllnitzbahn GmbH; Zittauer Schmalspurbahn; Fichtelbergbahn | |
In 2014 (local passenger) and 2015 (other), the rolling stock used in Germany included the following numbers of vehicle types.[16]
| Passenger | Freight | Sum | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long-distance | Local | |||||
| High speed | Other | Railways | Tramways | |||
| EMUs | 143 | 5581 | 6371 | 12114 | ||
| DMUs | 19 | |||||
| Electric locomotives | 164 | 228 | 1142 | 1627 | 4174 | |
| Diesel locomotives | 29 | 984 | ||||
| Carriages | 972 | 1706 | 4397 | 786 | 8013 | |
| Control cars | 45 | 107 | ||||
| Wagons | 141143 | 141143 | ||||
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Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn (DB) are operated by its DB Fernverkehr (lit. 'DB Long-Distance Traffic') division:
InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 to replace the former Schnellzug (lit. 'fast train') and InterCity, were discontinued in Germany in 2003.
The UrlaubsExpress (lit. 'Holiday Express'), national night trains to the Alps and the Baltic 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.
Cisalpino (discontinued in December 2006) provided services to Switzerland and Italy.
Veolia Verkehr (Now merged into Transdev) 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 the federal states. The usual procedure under EU 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 like NordWestBahn or Netinera, although some states have awarded long-term contracts to local DB Regio subsidiaries. The train types for regional and local traffic are as follows (see also: List of suburban and commuter rail systems).
Previously, there were also other regional train types, the Stadt-Express (SE), formerly named City-Bahn (CB).
 |
Germany has rail links to all of its nine neighbouring nations. These countries use the same mainline gauge (1,435 mm / 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard gauge), although electrification (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz) and other systems such as signalling may differ.
Denmark — voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz
Poland — voltage change to 3 kV DC
Czech Republic — voltage change to 3 kV DC
Austria — same voltage
Switzerland — same voltage, but different pantographs
France — voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz (no direct connection to France's 1500 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 (at Emmerich / Zevenaar; for trains to Arnhem, a further change to 1500 V DC follows)There are also train ferries (carrying only goods wagons) between Rostock and Trelleborg (Sweden) across the Baltic Sea.[17] The Lake Constance train ferries linked Germany with Switzerland (1869−1976) and Austria (1884−1917) across Lake Constance (Bodensee).
The table includes operational cross-border services,[needs update] most of which run either as EuroCity (EC), EuroCity-Express (ECE), InterCity (IC), Intercity-Express (ICE) or Regionalexpress (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 four rapid transit (U-Bahn) systems in Germany:
The following is a list of S-Bahn systems that serve, or served, stations in Germany (cross-border systems are marked with an *):
The list below summarizes tram-train / light rail / premetro (Stadtbahn) systems in Germany (systems included in the Rhine-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 by Georgius Agricola (image right) in his work De 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 wagons Hunde ("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-hauled Bavarian Ludwig Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth on 7 December 1835. The first long distance railway was the Leipzig-Dresden railway, completed on 7 April 1839. 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 the Ruhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France.[21] 1915 Leipzig Hauptbahnhof had become one of the largest stations worldwide.
Under the Weimar Republic, the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen (later Deutsche Reichsbahn) was created on 1 April 1920.
During the Second 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 and Übergangskriegslokomotiven). 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 the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany.
In 1989, the Berlin 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-called Bahnreform (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 the Bahnreform was seen as a "first step" towards future railway privatization and Deutsche Bahn operates as a joint stock company (AG) even though the federal government owns all stocks. However, plans for privatization were delayed by the Great 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 to open 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]
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