Bahntower, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, 141027, ako

The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

company of Germany. Headquartered in the

Bahntower The Bahntower, also written as BahnTower and Bahn-Tower, (English: ''Railway Tower'') is a 26-story, 103 m (338 ft) skyscraper on the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany. Built between 1998 and 2000, the Bahntower provides 22,000 m² (23 ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, it is a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

( AG). The

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

is its single

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

. describes itself as the second-largest transport company in the world, after the German postal and logistics company /

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

, and is the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe. Deutsche Bahn was the largest railway company in the world by revenue in 2015; in 2019, DB Passenger transport companies carried around 4.8 billion passengers, and DB logistics companies transported approximately 232 million tons of goods in

rail freight transport Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...

. The group is divided into several companies, including ''

DB Fernverkehr DB Fernverkehr AG ( German for "DB Long-Distance Traffic") is a semi-independent division of Deutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn, ...

'' (long-distance passenger), ''

DB Regio DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. DB Regio AG, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and there part of the DB Regio bus ...

'' (local passenger services) and ''

DB Cargo DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) both ...

'' (rail freight). The Group subsidiary ''

DB Netz DB Netz AG is a major subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn that owns and operates a majority of the German railway system (2019: 33,291 km). It is one of the largest railway infrastructure manager by length and transport volume of its network. The ...

'' also operates large parts of the German railway infrastructure, making it the largest rail network in Europe. The company generates about half of its total

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

from operating

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

, with other half of the business comprising the further transport and

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

businesses, as well as various service providers. The company generates part of its revenue through public transport contracts and support services for infrastructure maintenance and expansion.

Company profile

The Deutsche Bahn Group is divided into various organizational units that perform their tasks with subsidiaries.

Personenverkehr

DB Personenverkehr is the group that manages passenger travel within Germany. Originally called ' (''English'': Travel and Tourism), this group is responsible for the managing, servicing and running of German passenger services. This group is divided into three business areas: , and

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. Deutsche Bahn purchased

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. To satisfy the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, Arriva's German operations were rebranded

Netinera Netinera (formerly Arriva Deutschland) is a railway company operating in Germany. It was founded as a subsidiary of British Arriva plc in 2003 and initially headquartered in Hamburg. After the acquisition of Regentalbahn in 2004, the company's se ...

and sold. As at July 2022, Arriva operated 15,700 buses and 800 railway vehicles in 14 European countries. In 2019 Deutsche Bahn unsuccessfully tried to sell the business.

DB Fernverkehr

is a semi-independent division of 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 of and renamed in 2003. Bombadier Twindexx, Köln Hauptbahnhof 2015-12-17

Bombadier Twindexx, Köln Hauptbahnhof 2015-12-17

operates all

Intercity Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

and

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trains in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as well as in some neighboring countries and several

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

and EuroCityExpress trains throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Unlike its sister companies and , still holds a 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. Additionally operates a few long-distance coach services throughout Germany, called '.

DB Regio

S3 - BR 442 - Bahnhof Neumarkt Oberpfalz - Herbstmorgen

AG is the subsidiary of that operates passenger trains on short and medium distances in Germany. Unlike its long-distance counterpart, , it does not operate trains on its own account. Traffic is ordered and paid for by the (states) or their respective (Regional train operation supervisors). Some states have awarded long-term contracts to (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%. rail services are divided into several regional companies: * for

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

* for

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

* for

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

* for

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

* for

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

and parts of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

* for the rest of

* for

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

* * * (small, independent networks, like Erzgebirgsbahn, Gäubodenbahn,

Kurhessenbahn The Kassel-based Kurhessenbahn (KHB) is the first of six regional networks to be created by Deutsche Bahn AG as part of its ''middle class offensive''. It forms a unit that is formally split into DB RegioNetz Verkehrs GmbH and DB RegioNetz Infrast ...

, Oberweißbacher Bergbahn, Südostbayernbahn,

Westfrankenbahn The Westfrankenbahn (WFB for short) is a RegioNetz of the Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Bahn AG based in Aschaffenburg. History The Westfrankenbahn was founded on January 1, 2006.Magazin "der schienenbus", Heft 6/2006, Seite 77 – Streckenmeldung K ...

for easier organisation) The bus services consist of 25 bus companies, which have subsidiary companies themselves.

Infrastructure

DB Netze

The infrastructure division is divided into the ''

'' (rail infrastructure),

DB Station&Service DB Station&Service AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, responsible for managing over 5,400 train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, fre ...

(stations and services) and DB Energie (Energy) business units.

DB Engineering & Consulting

'' DB Engineering & Consulting'', which is responsible for construction supervision, construction planning and

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

, is also assigned to this department without being part of a business area. Via its subsidiary DB Engineering&Consulting, DB signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian rail operator Bonyad Eastern Railways (BonRail) in May 2017 and shortly after a consulting contract with

Islamic Republic of Iran Railways , majoroperators =RAI, Tooka rail, Samand rail , ridership =21 million , passkm =13 billion , freight =31 million tonnes , tonkm =22 billion tonnes , infrastructure = , length = , doublelength = 142 ...

; 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. The

California High-Speed Rail Authority The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is a California state agency established pursuant to the California High-Speed Rail Act to develop and implement high-speed intercity rail service, namely the California High-Speed Rail project. Mem ...

's (CHSRA) board approved on 15 November 2017 an early train operator contract with DB Engineering & Consulting USA. 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. In Germany, DB E&C acts as a planning office and in construction supervision for Deutsche Bahn construction sites.

Logistics

The Transport and Logistics division acted in the market with the business units DB Schenker Logistics and ''

DB Schenker Rail DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) bo ...

'', 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 and ''DB Schenker Rail'' was renamed

. In cooperation with the logistics provider time:matters, DB offers the transport of shipments weighing up to 20 kg on its EC/IC/ICE trains.

Foreign firms

DB also has interests abroad, owning the United Kingdom's largest rail freight operator,

DB Cargo UK DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

, which also operates the

British Royal Train The British Royal Train is used to convey senior members of the British royal family and associated staff of the Royal Household around the railway network of Great Britain. It is owned, maintained and operated by DB Cargo UK. The Royal Trai ...

and also has interests in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. It is possible to obtain train times for any journey in Europe from 's website.

Trans-Eurasia Logistics Trans-Eurasia Logistics, AKA CHINA RAILWAY Express, is a joint venture between German rail company Deutsche Bahn and Russian RZhD, China Railway Corporation from China operating container freight trains between Germany and China via Russia. ...

is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

(RŽD) that operates

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

freight trains between Germany and China via

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Key persons

Management board

* Richard Lutz (

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Chairman of the Management Board) since 2017 * Levin Holle (Member of the Management Board for Finance and Logistics,

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

) * Daniela Gerd tom Markotten (Member of the Management Board for Digitalization and Technology) * Berthold Huber (Member of the Management Board for Infrastructure) * Sigrid Nikutta (Member of the Management Board for Freight Transport) * Martin Seiler (Member of the Management Board for Human Resources and Legal Affairs) * Evelyn Palla (Member of the Management Board for Regional Transport) * Michael Peterson (Member of the Management Board for Long Distance Passenger Transport)

Supervisory board

* Michael Odenwald (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

History

Background: the Deutsche Reichsbahn

The railway network in Germany dates back to 1835 when the first tracks were laid on a route between Nuremberg and . The

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

operated from 1920 through the

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

and Nazi eras until 1949. when it was split between East and West Germany into two successor entities,

and

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

, respectively. They remained separate throughout the Cold War when there were two separate German states. The 1989 fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, and

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, paved the way for the companies to reunite. On 1 January 1994 and were merged to form one company, and so, they became , the successor organisation to the Reichsbahn. At the same time, adopted its current logo and ''DB'' abbreviation. modernised the logo and typographer designed a new corporate font known as DB Type. When Deutsche Bahn was formed in January 1994, it became a joint stock-company, and were 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. 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 in but moved to in central Berlin in 1996, where it occupies a 26-storey office tower designed by at the eastern end of the

Sony Center The Sony Center is a Sony-sponsored complex of eight buildings located at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany, designed by Helmut Jahn. It opened in 2000 and houses Sony's German headquarters. The cinemas in the center were closed at the end ...

and named . As the lease was to expire in 2010, DB had announced plans to relocate to , and in 2007 a proposal for a new headquarters by 3XN Architects won an architectural competition which also included

Foster + Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...

, and . However, these plans were put on hold due to the

financial crisis of 2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

, and the lease was extended. Construction of the new headquarters building was started in 2017 under the title "

Cube Berlin In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross. The cube is the only r ...

" 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.

1999 to present

The second step of the (railway reform) was carried out in 1999. All rolling stock, track, personnel, and real assets were divided between the subsidiaries of DBAG: (long-distance passenger service, later renamed (operating the stations). This new organisational scheme was introduced not least to implement European Community directive 91/440/EEC that demands 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 its arm, logistics under and infrastructure and operations under . The DB is owned by the Federal Republic. By the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, the Federal Republic is required to retain (directly or indirectly) a majority of the infrastructure (the present ) 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. However the onset of the

financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

saw this cancelled. In 2014, the Jewish community of Thessaloniki demanded that the , which is the successor of the , should reimburse the heirs of Greek Holocaust victims of Thessaloniki for train fares that they were forced to pay for their deportation from Thessaloniki to and Treblinka between March and August 1943. In June 2018 controversy grew in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

over widespread cancellations of railway services and numerous delayed services operated by Deutsche Bahn in Britain, under its

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

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. He warned that if the company was found to be in breach of its contractual agreements it could be banned from running railway services in the United Kingdom.

Logo

File:Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft logo.svg, 1 April 1920 to 26 April 1945,
operating as ''Deutsche Reichsbahn''. File:Deutsche Reichsbahn DDR.svg, 30 August 1924 to 31 December 1993,
operating as ''Deutsche Reichsbahn''.
This mark was used in tandem with the previous logo until April 1945. File:Deutsche Bundesbahn.svg, 10 October 1946 to 31 December 1993,
operating as ''Deutsche Bundesbahn''. File:Deutsche Bahn AG-Logo.svg, Current logo, in use since 1 January 1994,
operating as ''Deutsche Bahn''.

Structure and subsidiaries

* * *

Train categories

Trains in Germany are classified by their stopping pattern: * (long-distance trains), also ''Fernzug'' ** ICE (''

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...

'') 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 (

) for intercity trains that cross borders, and connect Germany with other countries. Can also be operated by foreign State Railways. ** IC (''

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

'') for long-distance semi-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), with more frequent stops. On some IC routes the trains use standard railway lines instead of the high speed lines the ICE takes. International IC services are usually operated as ''EuroCity''. * 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: ** ECE ('' EuroCity Express'') for international high-speed rail services. Currently only one route from

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. **

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

from France to Frankfurt and Munich via Stuttgart. ** RJ (''

Railjet Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express (RJX)'' for the fastest services and as ''Railjet (RJ)'' for services with additional stops, it wa ...

'') from Austria to Munich and Frankfurt as well as to Berlin. * (local trains) ** IRE () are longer distance RE trains that connect regions and cities. On most routes they serve as slower IC trains. IRE trains only exist in

and on the Hamburg–Berlin route. ** RE () serve regions and connects cities, and do not stop at every station on the route. ** RB () stop at all stations on the route (except where S-Bahn is available) and are often the most basic train service avaiable. ** S () is a type of

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

for larger cities and stop at all stations. operate high-frequency services and are usually characterised by crossing through the city centre with dense station spacing. Train categories no longer used include: * 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. * IR (), 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. * SE () 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, ), 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. In the early days of DBAG, the most basic train categories, which were in use since the early days of rail travel in Germany, were also used: * D ( or , abbreviated from ) was the

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than Local train, local trains that stop at most or all of the s ...

category and used to be the highest train category. It was replaced by IC and the even faster ICE. The trains of the car shuttle service connecting the island of

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

with the mainland are still officially referred to as D trains * E () was the semi-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 * N (), the most basic form of train service stopping at all stations. When all local train services were , i.e. operating at a fixed interval (mostly one train per hour), they were rebranded as RB 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 as , private operators do use the RE and RB labels, in others, such as

, 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 by

Abellio Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshiped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France), known primarily by a number of inscriptions which were discovered in Comminges, in the Pyrenees. He may have been a god of ...

, though on platforms, trains and maps or timetables issued by the local transport authority overseeing regional train services, these abbreviations usually do not appear.

Codeshare agreements

In conjunction with

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (inclu ...

TAM Airlines TAM may refer to: Biology * Thioacetamide, an organosulfur compound * Tumor-associated macrophage, a class of immune cells * Transparent Anatomical Manikin, an educational model Technology * Tanque Argentino Mediano, the main battle tank of Arge ...

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the w ...

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Biman Bangladesh Airlines ( bn, বিমান বাংলাদেশ এয়ারলাইন্স) commonly known as Biman ( bn, বিমান), pronounced (), is the national flag carrier of Bangladesh. With its main hub at Hazra ...

, and , operates the

AIRail Service AiRail Service is offered by Deutsche Bahn AG in cooperation with Lufthansa, American Airlines and Emirates. It is one example of several a dedicated air-rail alliances currently operating worldwide. AiRail Service is currently offered between ...

between

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

and

Köln Hauptbahnhof Köln Hauptbahnhof or Cologne Central Station is a railway station in Cologne, Germany. The station is an important local, national and international transport hub, with many ICE, Thalys and Intercity trains calling there, as well as regional Regi ...

/ Bonn Hauptbahnhof, , ,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, ,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, and . has the

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

designator 2A.

Tickets

DB offers two different pricing models for single or return tickets for routes that include long-distance trains: * The ''Flexpreis'' (originally ''Normalpreis''): 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. * The ''Sparpreis'' and ''Super-Sparpreis'' are generally cheaper tickets that must be purchased in advance and are only valid for a specific connection. Supersparpreis prices for long-distance journeys start at €17.90 and Sparpreis at €21.90, but may climb close to the Flexpreis prices closer to departure and at busier dates and routes. Stopovers during travel are possible within a day and if the travel ends until 10:00 a.m. the next day, but then the long-distance trains to be used after the stopover must also be fixed in advance. Planned stopovers may sometimes help to circumvent times of day with higher occupancy and higher prices. Sparpreis tickets are partially reimbursible, but only against vouchers for the next travel. Ticket prices generally rise degressively over distance, particularly for Sparpreise and Supersparpreise. Therefore, putting connecting local trains or excursions planned for the next morning on the same ticket is usually of advantage. 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 by local transport associations, which can also be used on buses, trams, and

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

trains. DB offers concessionary fares with the ''

BahnCard BahnCard (German ''Bahn'' – Rail) is a discount subscription programme offered by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German national railway company. Unlike airline loyalty programs, but similarly to the UK Railcard, the BahnCard entitles the passenger t ...

'' discount cards, which are available as ''BahnCard 25'' (25% discount on Flexpreis and Sparpreis), ''BahnCard 50'' (50% discount on Flexpreis and 25% discount on Sparpreis), and ''BahnCard 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 the '' Länder-Tickets'', which give unlimited journeys on local trains and in many transport associations within a state, and

Interrail The Interrail Pass is a rail pass available to European residents. Residents of countries outside Europe may purchase the Eurail Pass instead. Types of Interrail Pass include the Interrail Global Pass and the Interrail One Country Pass. The pa ...

are also available. These Länder-Tickets offer group tickets, where up to five people can travel on a single ticket. Regular travellers usually use weekly, monthly or annual passes for their connection or region; day or sometimes weekend passes exist in local transport primarily. The price system applies to some international destinations from Germany similarly, when bought at Deutsche Bahn, but it is often advisable to compare prices of the respective train operators involved.

Incidents

Bad Aibling rail accident On 9 February 2016, two Meridian-branded passenger trains had a head-on collision at Bad Aibling, Germany. Of approximately 150 people on board the two trains, 12 people died and 85 others were injured, of which 24 seriously. Two months after ...

* Brühl train derailment *

Eschede train disaster On 3 June 1998, an ICE 1 train derailed and crashed into an overpass that crossed the railroad, which then collapsed onto the train. The crash occurred on the Hannover-Hamburg railway near Eschede in Lower Saxony, Germany. In total, 101 peop ...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen train derailment On 3 June 2022, a double decker regional train derailed north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, near on the Munich–Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway in southern Germany. Five people died and 68 passengers were injured, 16 of them seriously. Derailmen ...

* Hordorf train collision *

2012 Stuttgart derailments During 2012, three trains derailed at Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, Germany, all nearly at the same place and for nearly the same reasons. Nobody was injured during the first derailment on 24 July. The second accident on 29 September caused injuries, hi ...

References

External links

*
DB Corporate Home Page

DB travel portal
{{Star Alliance Berlin S-Bahn Companies based in Berlin German companies established in 1994 German brands Government-owned companies of Germany Railteam Railway companies established in 1994 Government-owned railway companies Star Alliance

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History

Background: the Deutsche Reichsbahn

1999 to present

Logo

Structure and subsidiaries

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See also

References

External links