Rail transport in Germany


Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn., the railway network in Germany had a length of, of which were electrified and were double track. About are high-speed railway lines. Germany has the 6th [List of countries by rail transport network size|longest railway network] in the world, and the largest in Europe after Russia.
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. It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by both passengers and freight transport|freight], and good ratings for quality of service and safety. 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.
Germany's rail freight of 117 billion tons/kilometer meant it carried 17.6% of all inland German cargo in 2015.
Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways. The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.
Urban rail in Germany includes rapid transit, commuter rail, Stadtbahn, trams and funiculars. Suspension railways 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.
Island railways are present on Fehmarn, Sylt and Wangerooge.

Overview

In 2018, railways in Germany transported the following numbers of passengers and freight.

Operators

, 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, DB Regio 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.
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. Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of buses and passenger trains in Germany. Also Netinera 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. The long-distance market generally does not require government funding.

Special schemes

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.

Stations

Platform height

The European Union Commission issued a TSI on 30 May 2002, that sets out standard platform heights for passenger steps on high-speed rail. These standard heights are and.
In Germany new builds are 550 mm and 760 mm. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has new builds with 550 mm. Hesse, NRW, Berlin had new builds with 760 mm.

Routes

Track gauges

Signals

Rolling stock

In 2014 and 2015, the rolling stock used in Germany included the following numbers of vehicle types.

Services

Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn

Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn are operated by its DB Fernverkehr division:
InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 to replace the former Schnellzug and InterCity, were discontinued in Germany in 2003.
The UrlaubsExpress, 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.

Long-distance services of other operators

Cisalpino provided services to Switzerland and Italy.
Veolia Verkehr offered services on certain former InterRegio routes until 2014.

Regional and local

and local rail traffic is organised and funded 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.
Previously, there were also other regional train types, the Stadt-Express, formerly named City-Bahn.

By state

Rail links to adjacent countries

Germany has rail links to all of its nine neighbouring nations. These countries use the same mainline gauge, although electrification systems|electrification] and other systems such as signalling may differ.
There are also train ferries between Rostock and Trelleborg across the Baltic Sea. Until December 2019, there were also train ferries carrying EuroCity and ICE services between Puttgarden and Rødby, Denmark. The Lake Constance train ferries linked Germany with Switzerland and Austria across Lake Constance.

International passenger trains

The table includes operational cross-border services, most of which run either as EuroCity, EuroCity-Express, InterCity, Intercity-Express or Regionalexpress. Local border services are not listed.
ServiceRouteCountries
EurostarDortmund — — — Germany – Belgium – France
Hamburg — — Prague Germany – Czech Republic
/Münster / — — — — InnsbruckGermany – Austria
/Münster / Dortmund / Frankfurt — — Salzburg — KlagenfurtGermany – Austria
Frankfurt — Basel — — MilanGermany – Switzerland – Italy
Munich — Bregenz — ZurichGermany – Austria – Switzerland
Munich — Innsbruck — Verona — BolognaGermany – Austria – Italy
Berlin — Warsaw Wschodnia / GdyniaGermany – Poland
Berlin — — Frankfurt — — — Innsbruck HbfGermany – Austria
Berlin — Frankfurt — — / Germany –Switzerland
— Berlin — Chemnitz / Germany
Kiel / Hamburg-Altona — — Basel — Germany – Switzerland
Hamburg-Altona — — Munich — Wörgl Hbf — Schwarzach-St. VeitGermany – Austria
Berlin — — Prague — — Germany – Czech Republic – Austria
Düsseldorf — Köln Hbf — Koblenz Hbf — Trier Hbf — Germany – Luxembourg
Amsterdam / Dortmund — Cologne — Basel Germany – Switzerland
Karlsruhe — Munich Germany
— HamburgDenmark – Germany
Amsterdam — Berlin OstbahnhofNetherlands – Germany
Amsterdam — FrankfurtNetherlands – Germany
— Frankfurt Belgium – Germany
Paris East — Saarbrücken / Frankfurt France – Germany
Paris East — — MunichFrance – Germany
Marseille — Frankfurt France – Germany
Stuttgart — — / ZurichGermany
Budapest — Vienna West — Munich — Frankfurt Hungary – Austria – Germany
Dortmund/Hamburg-Altona — — ViennaGermany – Austria
Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — Vienna WestGermany – Austria
— Feldkirch — Innsbruck — Vienna WestGermany – Austria
Kulturzug — — Cottbus — Germany – Poland
Basel Bad Bf — — — / Ulm HbfGermany – Switzerland
Koblenz — Trier Hbf — LuxembourgGermany – Luxembourg
Munich — PragueGermany – Czech Republic
Berlin / Hamburg — — MalmöGermany – Denmark – Sweden
Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — — Zagreb / Germany – Austria – Slovenia – Croatia
NightJetBerlin / Hamburg — ZurichGermany – Switzerland
NightJetHamburg / Düsseldorf — Vienna / InnsbruckGermany – Austria
NightJetVienna — — Berlin-Charlottenburg / Warsaw WschodniaAustria – Czech Republic – Germany / Poland
NightJet Munich — Salzburg — Venice / RomeGermany – Austria – Italy
European SleeperPrague — Dresden — Berlin — Amsterdam — BrusselsCzech Republic – Germany – Netherlands – Belgium

High-speed rail

Urban rail

Rapid transit

There are four rapid transit systems in Germany:
The following is a list of S-Bahn systems that serve, or served, stations in Germany :
The list below summarizes tram-train / light rail / premetro systems in Germany :

Mountain and rack railways

Heritage railways

History

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 in his work De re metallica. 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 from the noise they made on the tracks. 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 Dresden 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 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. 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. 1915 Leipzig Hauptbahnhof had become one of the largest stations worldwide.
Under the Weimar Republic, the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen 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. Absent a good highway network and trucks, the Germans relied heavily on the railways, supplemented by slower river and canal transport for bulk goods.
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 came into effect on 1 January 1994, when the two state railways were formally reunited to form the current German Railway Corporation. At the time the Bahnreform was seen as a "first step" towards future railway privatization and Deutsche Bahn operates as a joint stock company 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; regional services are now subject to open bidding 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. However, in 2013, this protection was removed, leading to a significant shift from rail to bus for long journeys.

National strikes

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

    Accidents