The approximately 5,400

railway station 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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

s 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 betwee ...

that are owned and operated by the

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

subsidiary DB Station&Service are divided into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station. This categorisation influences the amount of money railway companies need to pay to DB Station&Service for using the facilities at the stations.

Categories

Category 1

The 21 stations in Category 1 are considered traffic hubs. They are permanently staffed and carry all sorts of railway-related facilities, as well as usually featuring a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

in the station. Most of these stations are the central (commonly referred to as main) stations ('' Hauptbahnhof'' or ''Hbf'') of large cities with 500,000 inhabitants and above, though some in smaller cities, such as Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof, are regarded as important because they are at the junction of important railway lines.

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 constitu ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, the four biggest cities in Germany, have more than one Category 1 station. Included in this category are the following stations: *

Berlin-Gesundbrunnen station Berlin Gesundbrunnen station (german: Bahnhof Berlin Gesundbrunnen) is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is situated in the Gesundbrunnen district, part of the central Mitte borough, as an interconnection point between the northern '' ...

* Berlin Hauptbahnhof * Berlin Ostbahnhof * Berlin Südkreuz *

Dortmund Hauptbahnhof Dortmund Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city ce ...

Dresden Hauptbahnhof Dresden Hauptbahnhof ("main station", abbreviated Dresden Hbf) is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the ''Böhmischen Bahnhof'' ("Bohemian station") of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway ('' ...

* Duisburg Hauptbahnhof *

Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History The station was opened on 1 October 1891. It replaced the three following stations: *the ''Bergisch-Märkisc ...

* Essen Hauptbahnhof * Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof * Hamburg-Altona station *

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (abbrev. ''Hamburg Hbf'') is the main railway station of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Opened in 1906 to replace four separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by DB Station&Service AG. With an aver ...

* Hannover Hauptbahnhof * Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof *

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 ...

Köln Messe/Deutz station Köln Messe/Deutz station (called ''Köln-Deutz'' until November 2004, Colognian: , ) is an important railway junction for long-distance rail and local services in the Cologne district of Deutz in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It ...

* Leipzig Hauptbahnhof * München Hauptbahnhof * München Ost *

Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof ( German for ''Nuremberg main station'') or Nuremberg Central Station Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (; en, Stuttgart central station) is the primary railway station in the city of Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany. It is the largest regional and long-distance railway station in ...

Category 2

Most of the 87-odd stations in Category 2 are either important junctions for long-distance traffic or offer connections to large airports.

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 ...

and EuroCity trains generally call at these stations. All railway-related services, like a ticket hall and a service desk, are present at the station and the station is staffed at most times trains are running. The service is similar to Category 1 stations. Category 2 stations, by state, are: * Baden-Württemberg (12):

Bietigheim-Bissingen Bietigheim-Bissingen (locally: ''Biedge-Bissenge'') is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its confl ...

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...

, Freiburg (Brsg) Hbf,

Heidelberg Hbf Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof (commonly known as Heidelberg HBF) is the main railway station for the city of Heidelberg. In 2005 it was used by around 42,000 passengers per day and is one of the largest passenger stations in the German state of Baden-W ...

, Heilbronn Hbf,

Mannheim Hbf Mannheim Hauptbahnhof (German language, German for ''Mannheim central station'') is a railway station in Mannheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is the second largest traffic hub in southwestern Germany after Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof ...

, Offenburg, Plochingen, Pforzheim, Singen, Tübingen Hbf, Ulm Hbf * Bavaria (10): Aschaffenburg Hbf,

Augsburg Hbf Augsburg Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, situated in southern Germany. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station and has 12 platform tracks. The station has one of the oldest still ex ...

, Bamberg, Fürth Hauptbahnhof,

Ingolstadt Hbf Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, situated in southern Germany. Ingolstadt station is an important junction in the Deutsche Bahn network. It has 7 platform tracks and is classified by Deutsche Bahn ...

, Landshut (Bayern), München-Pasing, Regensburg Hbf,

Rosenheim Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of th ...

, Würzburg Hbf * Berlin (6): Friedrichstraße, Lichtenberg, Potsdamer Platz,

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

Wannsee Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger '' Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and ...

Zoologischer Garten A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

* Brandenburg (3): BER Airport – Terminal 1-2, Cottbus, Potsdam Hbf * Bremen (1): Bremen Hbf * Hamburg (2): Hamburg Dammtor,

Hamburg-Harburg Harburg is a borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg district in Lower Saxony. The borough of Harburg lies on the southern banks of the river El ...

* Hesse (8): Darmstadt Hbf,

Frankfurt (Main) Süd 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 ...

, Fulda, Gießen, Hanau Hbf, Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel Hbf, Wiesbaden Hbf * Lower Saxony (8): Braunschweig Hbf,

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, Hildesheim Hbf, Lüneburg, Oldenburg (Oldb) Hbf, Osnabrück Hbf, Uelzen, Wolfsburg Hbf * Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1): Rostock Hbf * North Rhine-Westphalia (17):

Aachen Hauptbahnhof Aachen Hauptbahnhof ( German for Aachen main station) is the most important railway station for the city of Aachen, in the far west of Germany near the Dutch and Belgian border. It is the largest of the four currently active Aachen stations, a ...

, Bielefeld Hbf, Bochum Hbf, Bonn Hbf, Düsseldorf Flughafen, Gelsenkirchen Hbf, Hagen Hbf, Hamm (Westf), Herford, Mönchengladbach Hbf, Münster (Westf) Hbf, Neuss Hbf, Oberhausen Hbf, Paderborn Hbf, Rheine,

Solingen Hbf Solingen Hauptbahnhof is the only railway station in Solingen, Germany, to be served by ICE and IC long distance trains. Solingen-Mitte station serves central Solingen, but only has Regionalbahn trains. History The first station in the area o ...

Wuppertal Hbf Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof ( German for Wuppertal main rail station) is a railway station in the city of Wuppertal, just south of the Ruhr Area, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the line between Düsseldorf/Cologne and Dortmu ...

* Rhineland-Palatinate (7): Kaiserslautern Hbf, Koblenz Hbf, Ludwigshafen Hbf, Mainz Hbf, Neustadt (Weinstraße) Hbf, Trier Hbf, Worms Hbf * Saarland (1): Saarbrücken Hbf * Saxony (2): Chemnitz Hbf, Dresden-Neustadt * Saxony-Anhalt (2): Halle (Saale) Hbf, Magdeburg Hbf * Schleswig-Holstein (4): Bad Oldesloe, Kiel Hbf, Lübeck Hbf, Neumünster * Thuringia (2): Erfurt Hbf,

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 ...

Category 3

Category 3 stations number 239. These stations usually feature a hall where travellers can buy tickets and groceries, but they are not permanently staffed. Often they serve as main stations of towns with about 50,000 inhabitants. Examples include

Görlitz station Görlitz station is the central station of the city of Görlitz in the German state of Saxony. Of the original twelve station tracks only six are still in operation. Görlitz is also served by stations in Rauschwalde, Weinhübel and Hagenwerder. ...

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

, Lichtenfels,

Passau Hbf Passau Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station at Passau in Bavaria, Germany. Built in 1860, it has eight platforms, of which three are bay platforms and three are through tracks. The ca. 130 m long station building is built in the clas ...

and Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf.

Category 4

Category 4 includes around 630 stations. Most of these stations have frequent connections with

RegionalExpress In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at ...

and RegionalBahn trains. Their service level is comparable to a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

and they offer services to commuters. This category also includes stations situated in major cities that see a high usage of

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

or RE/RB services. Examples include Balingen, Bautzen, Montabaur, Coburg and Munich's S-Bahn stop

Isartor The Isartor at the Isartorplatz in Munich is one of four main gates of the medieval city wall. It served as a fortification for the defence and is the most easterly of Munich's three remaining gothic town gates (''Isartor'', '' Sendlinger Tor'' a ...

Category 5

Category 5 stations (1070) either belong to smaller, rural towns or to outlying

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

areas of major cities. Their inventory is frequently " vandal-proofed" due to their lower passenger numbers. Normally, only local trains call at these stations. Examples include

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaring ...

, Köln-Holweide and Bremerhaven-Lehe.

Category 6

Category 6 includes over 2500 stations, with low passenger numbers. Only the most basic equipment needed is present at the station. Examples of stations in this category include

Bad Wimpfen Bad Wimpfen () is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar. Geography Bad Wimpfen is located on the west bank of the Rive ...

, Loxstedt and Hagen-Vorhalle.

Category 7

Most of the 870 stations in Category 7, the lowest category, are in rural areas. These stops, which usually have no more than one platform, are served by certain local trains only. Examples of stations belonging to this category include

Eggesin Eggesin (; csb, Chëczëno) is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Uecker, 7 km southeast of Ueckermünde, and 42 km northwest of Szczecin. T ...

and

Beuron Beuron ( Swabian: ''Beira'') is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Beuron is known for the Beuron Archabbey and the Beuron Art School for religious art. Geography Beuron is divided into subdistric ...

References

External links

* {{German railway stations Railway stations in Germany