Transport in Hamburg comprises an extensive,
rail system,
subway system,
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
s and
maritime services for the more than 1.8 million inhabitants of the city of
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
and 5.3 million people in the
Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
Since the Middle Ages, as a
Hanseatic
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...
City one part of Hamburg's transport was the economic trade with other cities or regions. In 2008, the
port of Hamburg was the second-largest port in Europe. Hamburg is connected to four
motorways
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
and in Hamburg proper are two airports. The Hamburg traffic group ''
Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) ( en, "Hamburg Transport Association") is a transport association coordinating public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide a unified fare system, requiring only a single ...
'' was the first organisation of its kind in the world and in 2008, was in charge for the
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...
management in three German states. In 2007, more than 618 million passengers used bus, rapid transit, ferries or light rail.
History
A
charter in 1189 by
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted Hamburg the status of a
free imperial city
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
and tax-free access up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea, the right to fish and to cut trees, and the freedom of military service.
[Verg, p. 16] The charter was given orally for Hamburg's backing of Frederick's
crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
, and in 1265 an in all probability forged letter was presented to or by the ''Rath'' (Council; ''Rat'' in antiquated writing style) of Hamburg.
[Verg, p. 26] In 1241, the two contracts between Hamburg and
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
marked the beginning of the
Hanseatic League, a trade union in Northern Europe. And in 1264 the ''Steinstraße'' was the third
cobbled
Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings.
Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...
road in Europe, the east-west route for commerce.
In 1800 Hamburg has 1,473 street-lamps and on the Hamburg hill in
St. Pauli
St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...
several new streets were given Christian names e.g. ''Davidstraße'', ''Erichstraße'' or ''
Herbertstraße
Herbertstraße (until 1922 ''Heinrichstraße'') is a street in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, located near the ''Reeperbahn'', which is the main red-light district. It is the only street in the city where it is still possible to find pros ...
''.
![Pincerno Hamburger Neustadt 14 - 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Pincerno_Hamburger_Neustadt_14_-_1900.gif)
On 31 October 1839, the first
horse-drawn
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...
bus line served a scheduled route from Hamburg to the then Danish
Altona. In 1866, the
Hamburg tramway network was opened. Initially, it was operated with
horsecar
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s. In 1894, Hamburg's first
electric tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
served
Meßberg – Lombardsbrücke –
Landungsbrücken
The St. Pauli Piers (german: St. Pauli Landungsbrücken, often only referred to as ''Landungsbrücken''; ), is the largest landing site in the Port of Hamburg, Germany, and also one of Hamburg's major tourist attractions. Other English language tr ...
– Zollkanal – Meßberg.
In 1906, the
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 avera ...
was built and the rail lines—like the ''
Rollbahn'' line—were expanded into the city centre, and in 1910 a hall for the air traffic with
zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
s was built in
Fuhlsbüttel
is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the Hamburg-Nord district. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression. ...
. 1911,
the first tunnel under a river in continental Europe was finished, and ''Benzindroschken'' (gasoline-run vehicles) were allowed on Hamburg's streets.
In 1912, the
port of Hamburg provided 64 km moorings for more than 15,000 seagoing vessels, arriving in Hamburg. The
Hamburger Hochbahn
Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA), founded in 1911, operates the underground system and large parts of the bus system in Hamburg, Germany.
History
The HHA was founded by Siemens & Halske and AEG as a consortium on 27 May 1911. The first chairman ...
was founded in 1911, and the first metro trains ran on the circle line in 1912.
The
Hamburger Verkehrsverbund
The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) ( en, "Hamburg Transport Association") is a transport association coordinating public transport in and around Hamburg, Germany. Its main objectives are to provide a unified fare system, requiring only a single ...
was founded on 29 November 1965 with the four initial partners the Hamburger Hochbahn AG, the
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 remaine ...
, the
HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst AG and
Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH). On 30 September 1978, after 84 years of service, the last tram served line no. 2 from ''Rathausmarkt'' to ''Schnelsen''.
Infrastructure
In 2008, Hamburg had an area of , 92% was land and 8% water areas. Area for the traffic infrastructure was 12% (). These were non built-up areas.
[Statistisches Jahrbuch Hamburg 2008/2009, p. 219]
Airports
Opened in 1911, Hamburg Airport, is situated in
Fuhlsbüttel
is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the Hamburg-Nord district. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression. ...
in the north of the city. In 2008, the airport had an area of ,
and handled 152.271 take-offs and landings and 12,690,114 passengers in total. of cargo were transported. Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport is a private airport for
EADS plant, situated in
Finkenwerder
Finkenwerder (; Low German: ''Finkwarder'', ''Finkenwarder'' or ''- wärder''; German: ''Finkeninsel''; translation: Island of finches) is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte. It is the location of a plant of Airbus and its ...
, on the south bank of the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
river.
Cycling
In 2008, Hamburg had more than cycle paths, but—according to the ADFC (German cyclist club)—in a devastated condition, which repairs would cost the city Euro 10 million. The
Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt designated 14 major cycle ways to improve the daily use of bicycles in Hamburg, and claimed to start a
bicycle sharing system
A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost.
The programmes themselves include bo ...
like in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. The project ''StadtRAD Hamburg'' was started in July 2009 and is today one of the most successful system of its kind in Germany.
Pedestrians
![Colonnaden Hamburg 04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Colonnaden_Hamburg_04.jpg)
Hamburg has several
pedestrian zone
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
s, streets renovated into car free zones. The first street transformed was in
Essen in 1926, like many West Germany cities Hamburg renovated several streets in the city's centre in the 1970s. The street ''
Colonnaden
The Colonnaden (the colonnades, pl. also in German lang.) is a shopping street in Neustadt quarter, Hamburg, Germany. The street, now largely a pedestrian zone, forms a diagonal junction from Jungfernstieg boulevard to Esplanade/ Stephansplatz. I ...
'' built by private investors in 1874 was renovated in 1978, it is one of the oldest pedestrian zones in Hamburg. Other zones only in the city's centre are ''
Deichstraße'', ''
Gänsemarkt'', ''
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz (''Gerhart Hauptmann Square'') is a central square in Altstadt quarter, Hamburg, Germany. The former Pferdemarkt (''Horse Market'') is located at the junction of the streets of Mönckebergstraße, Spitalerstraße and Alster ...
'', ''Gerhofstraße'', ''Gertrudenkirchhof'', ''Gertrudenstraße'', ''Großneumarkt'', ''Kurze Mühren'', ''Lange Mühren'', ''
Peterstraße'', ''
Rathausmarkt
Rathausmarkt (lit. ''City Hall Marketplace'') is the central square of Hamburg, Germany, located in the Altstadt (''old town'') quarter right in front of the Hamburg Rathaus. '', and ''
Spitalerstraße
Spitalerstraße is a shopping street in the Altstadt quarter, Hamburg, Germany. The street, a pedestrian zone, is one of the central shopping districts of the city and forms a diagonal junction from Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz/Mönckebergstraße boul ...
''. In 2008, the ''
Mönckebergstraße'' − open to public transport buses and taxis only − had 10,620 pedestrians per hour. In total, only 20% of all pedestrians zones in Germany are located in housing areas. Hamburg started several small housing projects.
There are also trails in Hamburg, e.g. the ''Alsterwanderweg'' (
Alster
The Alster () is a right tributary of the Elbe river in Northern Germany. It has its source near Henstedt-Ulzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, flows somewhat southwards through much of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and joins the Elbe in central ...
river trail), ''Elbewanderweg'' (
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
river trail), and in Hamburg is a part of the
European walking route E1
The E1 European long-distance path, or just E1 path, is one of the European long-distance paths designated by the European Ramblers' Association. It has a total length of some . It begins in Norway at Nordkapp, and crosses the Kattegat between Sw ...
. Because
Neuwerk
Neuwerk (; (''Archaic English'': New Werk or Newark) is a tidal island in the Wadden Sea on the German North Sea coast, with a population of 32. Neuwerk is located northwest of Cuxhaven, between the Weser and Elbe estuaries. The distance to th ...
island is part of Hamburg, hiking trails in the
Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park
The Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park (german: Hamburgisches Wattenmeer) is the smallest of the three German Wadden Sea National Parks which protect the single ecological entity of the Wadden Sea reaching from Den Helder to Esbjerg.
It is an ex ...
are also in the state's proper.
In 2006, the city of Hamburg installed a pedestrian guidance system in its centre.
Public transport
Public transport in Hamburg consists of buses, subways and light rail, commuter trains, car pool services, taxis, services for senior citizens and people with disabilities. The ''
Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV)'' manage and coordinate the public mass transport with busses, ferries and trains for the Public Transport Authorities—the three states:
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 ...
, and
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 Sc ...
, and several districts. The 35 operating cooperations provide the transport services and some of the customer services.
Buses
![FIMS-Anzeige](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/FIMS-Anzeige.jpg)
Major company for the
public bus services is the ''
Hamburg Hochbahn AG (HHA)'' with more than 100 lines and driven per day. Another main operator is the regional and city bus company ''Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH)'', operating many own lines (especially in the outer districts and on outbound lines) and sharing services with the ''Hamburger Hochbahn'' on several lines. Both companies handed over small parts of their services and some lines to subcontractors and subsidiaries such as ''Jasper'' or ''Süderelbe-Bus.''
Since 2001, the HHA uses a
passenger information system
A passenger information system, or passenger information display system, is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and the state of a public transport service through visual, voice or other m ...
at several bus stops to inform the passengers.
Long distance bus lines start at the
Hamburg Central Bus Station
The Hamburg Central Bus Station (abbreviated ZOB, German for ''Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof'') is the central station for long-distance coaches in and out of Hamburg. It is located in the St. Georg district near the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.
The buil ...
''(German: Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Hamburg)''. In 2007, there were more than 450 lines departing per week with travel destinations in 27 European countries, e.g.
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Alternative propulsion of buses
Since 2003, Hamburg has deployed nine
hydrogen fuel cell buses as part of a trial to access the long-term practically of
hydrogen fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...
vehicles. Those modified
Mercedes-Benz Citaro
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...
buses were retired between 2008 and 2010. They were replaced in 2011 by four new hydrogen fuel cell buses, again being delivered by
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
.
In 2014 another 30 hybrid buses were delivered, including the 10 plug-in hybrid buses mentioned above and 15 articulated buses of the type
Volvo 7900
The Volvo 7900 is an integrally-constructed single-decker rigid bus and single-decker articulated bus, most commonly available as a hybrid electric bus named Volvo 7900 Hybrid or just Volvo 7900H, but is also available with both diesel and C ...
. At the same time two fuel cell powered
Solaris Urbino 18 entered service. In 2016 three electric
Solaris New Urbino of the new generation were added to the
Hochbahn fleet.
At the same time the ''Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein (VHH)'' received 20 hybrid buses from Volvo and two fully electric buses from Italian manufacturer
Rampini.
Together with the subsidiary companies 68 buses with alternative propulsion are in service in Hamburg in total. They e.g. run on the line 109 ''(
Hamburger Hochbahn
Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HHA), founded in 1911, operates the underground system and large parts of the bus system in Hamburg, Germany.
History
The HHA was founded by Siemens & Halske and AEG as a consortium on 27 May 1911. The first chairman ...
)'' - that was designated as a test line for alternative propulsion buses in 2014 - and on the line 48 ''(Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein)''. The goal of the city is to only order buses with alternative propulsion from 2020 on.
Ferries
The ''
HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst
The HADAG (full name HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst AG, literally "''HADAG Sea-tourism and Ferry service''") is a local public transport company in Hamburg, Germany. It owns and operates passengers ferries across the Elbe River, overseen by a ...
'' runs public transport ferries, operating 21 ferries on 6 lines with a length of .
Rapid transit and commuter rail
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 ...
is provided by
Hamburg U-Bahn
The Hamburg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system serving the cities of Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg in Germany. Although referred to by the term U-Bahn (the "U" commonly being understood as standing for "underground"), most of the system's t ...
and
Hamburg S-Bahn and several
commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
lines. In 2015, the system consists of a length, with 289 stations for the region.
1,969 vehicles were owned by ten operating companies:
AKN Eisenbahn, DB Regio,
Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser (EVB), Erixx GmbH,
Hamburg Hochbahn AG (HHA),
metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft
Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft mbH is a German non-entirely-state-owned railway company based in Uelzen, Lower Saxony since December 2005. The company's activities focus exclusively on passenger transport, operating services from Hamburg to Brem ...
, nordbahn Eisenbahngesellschaft (NBE), Nord-Ostsee-Bahn (NOB) (part of
Veolia Verkehr GmbH),
S-Bahn Hamburg plc, and Verkehrsgesellschaft Norderstedt (VGN).
Taxis
Public transport with
taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
s is regulated by law.
[Taxenordnung] In 2008, according to the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce there were 2,168 companies with 3,675 vehicles, and more than 10,000 employees, in 80% of the companies the driver is also the owner of the company. In total 20 million transports were handled.
Railways
![Hafenbahnhof Hamburg-Süd01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Hafenbahnhof_Hamburg-S%C3%BCd01.jpg)
Hamburg is served by long distance and regional trains of Germany's major railway company
Deutsche Bahn AG. The city's main railway station for longer-distance services is
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 avera ...
. There are permanent
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, Switzerl ...
lines to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Frankfurt am Main
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 ...
(continuing
Stuttgart and
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 Ha ...
) and
Bremen (continuing to the
Ruhr area
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
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 ...
). To the north, ICE trains connect Hamburg with
Aarhus and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
and
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
in
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 Sc ...
. There are also several
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- passenger train connections. There are numerous
Regional-Express
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 services to
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 Sc ...
and
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 ...
. The major railway lines are
Berlin–Hamburg Railway
The Berlin–Hamburg Railway (german: Berlin-Hamburger Bahn) is a roughly long railway line for passenger, long-distance and goods trains. It was the first high-speed line upgraded in Germany to be capable of handling train speeds of over ...
,
Hanover – Hamburg,
Lower Elbe Railway
The Lower Elbe Railway (german: Niederelbebahn or ''Unterelbebahn''), is a railway line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in northwestern Germany, which was opened in 1881 by the ''Lower Elbe Railway Company'' (''Unterelbesche Eisenbahngesellschaft''). ...
, and
Wanne-Eickel – Hamburg.
In 2007, the port railway (German: ''Hafenbahn'') had a freight transport volume of 39.7 mill t nearly, including around 1,801,600
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 ...
with at least 1,585,600 inbound and outbound coaches.
[ ] In total, freight had a volume of more than (1000 t) in 2008, it increased 6.3% compared to 2007.
[Statistisches Jahrbuch Hamburg 2008/2009, p. 147]
Roads and streets
![A7 Hamburg Waltershof 026](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/A7_Hamburg_Waltershof_026.jpg)
As of 2008, Hamburg has 8,877 officially named streets, places, and—according to the (''Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt'')—
2,500 bridges.
Some streets are well known like the
Reeperbahn
The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nick ...
. Hamburg reduced the
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expre ...
to in several streets.
[
According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt), in Hamburg were 569,530 private cars registered (327 cars/1000 people) in 2007.] There were 10,612 traffic accident in total, including 8,426 with injury to persons and 2,186 accidents with severe damage to property.
Several motorways (Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...
en), and federal highways connect Hamburg with other regions or cities. An important motorway for the north-south connection in Europe is the A 7 — crossing the Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
river with a tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
— from the cities of Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
and Flensburg in the North to 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 ...
in the south. The ''Bundesautobahn 1
is an autobahn in Germany. It runs from Heiligenhafen in Schleswig-Holstein to Saarbrücken, a distance of , but is incomplete between Cologne and Trier. B 207 continues north from Heiligenhafen to Puttgarden, at the end of the island of Fehma ...
'' connect Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
to Bremen, Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
, and Dortmund. The Bundesstraße 5
The Bundesstraße 5 (abbr. B5) is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction from the Danish border near Niebüll to Frankfurt (Oder). It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between Berlin and Hamb ...
runs from the Danish border in the North to Frankfurt (Oder) in the East of Germany. In 2006, there were motorways and federal roads.
In November 2005, according to a census of the Federal Office for freight traffic (''Bundesamt für Güterverkehr''), in Hamburg were 926 commercial road haulage companies registered, with 19,985 vehicles (lorries, semitrailer tractors, truck trailers, semitrailers), and a cargo capacity of , and 15,623 employees.
List of roads
Waterways
The port of Hamburg is situated in a distance of 110 kilometres from the mouth of the Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
river, off the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
. In 2007, the port was the second-largest in 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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and ninth-largest worldwide. 9.8 million containers
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 ...
were handled in Hamburg in 2007, a ten percent increase on 2006. In 2008, inland water transport
Inland may refer to:
Places Sweden
* Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Northern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Southern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden
* Inland Torpe Hundred, a hundred ...
had a quantity of freight of (1000 t), and maritime shipping a quantity of (1000 t). Both increased compared to 2007.
The importance and responsibility of the port and its trade for the city is shown through the fact, that Hamburg is described itself as a ''Welthafenstadt'' (world port city) in the preamble of the constitution of Hamburg
The Constitution of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg (German: ''Verfassung der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg'') is the basic governing document of the German city-state of Hamburg. It was approved on 6 June 1952. It is the fourth constitutio ...
. Dieter Läpple described the important connection between the port and the trade city to enter it into the preamble of the constitution as follows: ''The preamble of the constitution of Hamburg points out the close relationship between port and city with regard to their development: „As an international port the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has a special task, allocated by its history and location, toperform for the German people. In the spirit of peace it wants to be an intermediary between all continents and peoples of the world."''
Important waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...
s were also – not in Hamburg proper – the canals Elbe Lateral Canal
The Elbe Lateral Canal (german: Elbe-Seitenkanal; ), is a long canal in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from the Mittelland Canal near Gifhorn to the Elbe in Artlenburg. It forms an important transport connection between southern and northern G ...
and Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...
.
See also
* Economy of Hamburg
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
* History of Hamburg
Hamburg was founded in the 9th century as a mission settlement to convert the Saxons. Since the Middle Ages, it has been an important trading center in Europe. The convenient location of the port and its independence as a city and state for centur ...
* Tourism in 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 ...
* Transport in Germany
As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense transport infrastructure.
One of the first limited-access highway systems in the world to have been built, the extensive Germa ...
Notes
;General
*
*
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*
External links
Hamburg website
{{Hamburg rail