Rail transport in Germany

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox rail network Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn (DB, Template:Lit). Template:As of, the railway network in Germany (DB only) had a length of Template:Cvt, of which Template:Cvt were electrified and Template:Cvt were double track.<ref name=uicstats>Template:Cite web</ref> About Template:Cvt are high-speed railway lines.<ref name=HSR>Template:Cite web</ref> Germany has the 6th longest railway network in the world, and the largest in Europe after Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Germany was ranked 4th among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety.<ref name="2017ERPI">Template:Cite web</ref> It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by both passengers and freight, and good ratings for quality of service and safety.<ref name="2017ERPI" /> It also captured relatively high value in return for public investment with cost to performance ratios that outperform the average ratio for all European countries.<ref name="2017ERPI" />

Germany's rail freight of 117 billion tons/kilometer meant it carried 17.6% of all inland German cargo in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.

Urban rail in Germany includes rapid transit (known as U-Bahn), commuter rail (known as S-Bahn), Stadtbahn (light rail), trams and funiculars (e.g. in Dresden). Suspension railways (Template:Lang) are present in two cities, Dresden and Wuppertal, in addition to the H-Bahn at Düsseldorf Airport and Dortmund University. Stuttgart has an urban rack railway.

Island railways are present on Fehmarn, Sylt and Wangerooge.

Overview

In 2018, railways in Germany transported the following numbers of passengers and freight.<ref name="destatis8/2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Passenger/payload-distance Passenger/payload Average distance
Passenger Long-distance 42,886,000,000 Template:Abbr 148,629,000 Template:Cvt
Local 54,919,000,000 pkm 2,724,800,000 Template:Cvt
Sum 97,805,000,000 pkm 2,873,429,000 Template:Cvt
Freight 116,273,000,000 Template:Abbr 354,430,000 t Template:Cvt

Operators

Template:See also Deutsche Bahn (DB), a state-owned private company, is the main provider of railway service. In recent years a number of competitors have started business, such as SWEG, ODEG or FlixTrain. DB runs several semi-independent divisions, such as DB Fernverkehr (Template:Lit), DB Regio (with several subsidiaries) and DB Cargo. DB mostly offers state-funded regional services, but some companies offer long-distance services as well. In 2016, DB had a share of 67% in the regional railway market and 68.6% in the inland freight market.<ref name="IRJSep2017">Template:Cite news</ref>

As of October 2016, there were 452 railway operators registered in Germany, among them 124 regional passenger operators, 20 long-distance operators, and 163 freight operators.<ref name="IRJSep2017"/> Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of buses and passenger trains in Germany. Also Netinera (previously Template:Lang) operates several railway lines in Germany.

In 2018, public sector funding accounted for 25.6% of the cost of short-distance passenger transport including all rail and bus services.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The long-distance market generally does not require government funding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Special schemes

Full train in Hamburg during the 9-Euro-Ticket campaign, August 10, 2022

In June, July and August 2022, there was a special ticket called the 9-Euro-Ticket, which was a ticket with which passengers could travel for €9 per month on local and regional transport throughout Germany. The initiative aimed to reduce energy consumption during the global energy crisis in 2021–2022 and alleviate the costs of living for people. Some criticized the enterprise, saying it led to overcrowding of trains at some points

The Deutschlandticket replaces the 9-Euro-Ticket. This subscription public transport ticket costs €49 and is valid for all local public transport in Germany. The price for the Deutschlandticket will be raised to €58 per month in January 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Stations

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Platform height

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Application of the EU standard platform heights for new constructions: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

The European Union Commission issued a TSI (Technical Specifications for Interoperability) on 30 May 2002, (2002/735/EC) that sets out standard platform heights for passenger steps on high-speed rail. These standard heights are Template:Cvt and Template:Cvt.<ref name="euuknl">2002/735/EC , sections 7.3.4 and 4.2.5</ref><ref group="note">In reference to EU documentation on interoperability of trans-national high speed rail (see EU Directive 96/48/EC) platform height is measured from the top of the running surface of the rail.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref></ref>

In Germany new builds are 550 mm and 760 mm. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has new builds with 550 mm.<ref name="pro-bahn.de">Template:Cite web</ref> Hesse, NRW, Berlin had new builds with 760 mm.<ref name="pro-bahn.de"/>

Routes

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Track gauges

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Gauge Notes
Name Metric (mm) Imperial
1,800 5 ft Template:Frac in Oberweißbacher Bergbahn (funicular section only)<ref name="breitspurbahn">Template:Cite web</ref>
Irish gauge 1,600 5 ft 3 in Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840–1855<ref name="breitspurbahn" />
Russian gauge 1,520 4 ft Template:Frac in Only at Sassnitz/Mukran ferry terminal for freight train ferries to Klaipėda and Baltijsk
1,458 4 ft Template:Frac in Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe AG
1,450 4 ft Template:Frac in Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG
Standard gauge 1,435 4 ft Template:Frac in The standard gauge both domestically and internationally
Metre gauge 1,000 3 ft Template:Frac in Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, trams
900 2 ft Template:Frac in Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn Molli
750 2 ft Template:Frac in Lößnitzgrundbahn; Weißeritztalbahn; Döllnitzbahn GmbH; Zittauer Schmalspurbahn; Fichtelbergbahn

Signals

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Rolling stock

Template:Main Template:See also In 2014 (local passenger) and 2015 (other), the rolling stock used in Germany included the following numbers of vehicle types.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Passenger Freight Sum
Long-distance Local
High speed Other Railways Tramways
EMUs 143 5581 6371 12114
DMUs 19
Electric locomotives 164 228 1142 1627 4174
Diesel locomotives 29 984
Carriages 972 1706 4397 786 8013
Control cars 45 107
Wagons 141143 141143

Services

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Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn

Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn (DB) are operated by its DB Fernverkehr (Template:Lit) division:

InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 to replace the former Schnellzug (Template:Lit) and InterCity, were discontinued in Germany in 2003.

The UrlaubsExpress (Template:Lit), national night trains to the Alps and the Baltic Sea during vacation times, were abolished in 2007.

Deutsche Bahn is gradually increasing the percentage of InterCity-Express services and downgrading the remaining InterCity services to the role formerly played by the InterRegio.

Long-distance services of other operators

Cisalpino (discontinued in December 2006) provided services to Switzerland and Italy.

Veolia Verkehr (Now merged into Transdev) offered services on certain former InterRegio routes (Harz-Berlin-Express, Ostseeland Express) until 2014.

Regional and local

S-Bahn networks in Germany

Regional and local rail traffic is organised and funded (as the fares usually do not cover the running costs) by the federal states. The usual procedure under EU legislation is to award the contract to the lowest bid by means of a tender procedure. The respective states are free to announce short- or long-term contracts as well as to stipulate further conditions such as on rolling stock. In recent years, many bids have been won by private rail companies like NordWestBahn or Netinera, although some states have awarded long-term contracts to local DB Regio subsidiaries. The train types for regional and local traffic are as follows (see also: List of suburban and commuter rail systems).

Previously, there were also other regional train types, the Stadt-Express (SE), formerly named City-Bahn (CB).

By state

State Services
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Baden-Württemberg
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Bavaria
Template:Flag
Template:Flag		 List of railway routes in Berlin and Brandenburg
Template:Flag Bremen S-Bahn
Template:Flag Hamburg S-Bahn / U-Bahn
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Hesse
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Lower Saxony
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Template:Flag List of regional rail lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
Template:Flag List of rail services in Rhineland-Palatinate
Template:Flag —
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Saxony
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Saxony-Anhalt
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Schleswig-Holstein
Template:Flag List of railway routes in Thuringia

Template:Unreferenced section Template:See also Germany has rail links to all of its nine neighbouring nations. These countries use the same mainline gauge (Template:RailGauge), although electrification (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz) and other systems such as signalling may differ.

Template:Rint There are also train ferries (carrying only goods wagons) between Rostock and Trelleborg (Sweden) across the Baltic Sea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Until December 2019, there were also train ferries carrying EuroCity and ICE services between Puttgarden (Fehmarn island) and Rødby, Denmark (Vogelfluglinie). The Lake Constance train ferries linked Germany with Switzerland (1869−1976) and Austria (1884−1917) across Lake Constance (Template:Lang).

International passenger trains

Template:Further The table includes operational cross-border services,Template:Needs update most of which run either as EuroCity (EC), EuroCity-Express (ECE), InterCity (IC), Intercity-Express (ICE) or Regionalexpress (RE). Local border services are not listed.

Service Route Countries
Template:Rint Eurostar Dortmund — Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Template:Rws Germany – Belgium – France
Template:Ric (Template:Stn / Template:Rws —) Hamburg — Template:Rws — Prague (— Bratislava — Budapest) Germany – Czech Republic (– Slovakia – Hungary)
Template:Ric/Template:Ric Münster / Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Innsbruck Germany – Austria
Template:Ric/Template:Ric Münster / Dortmund / Frankfurt (Main) — Template:Rws — Salzburg — Klagenfurt Germany – Austria
Template:Rcb Frankfurt (Main) — Basel — Template:Rws — Milan Germany – Switzerland – Italy
Template:Rcb Munich — Bregenz — Zurich Germany – Austria – Switzerland
Template:Ric Munich — Innsbruck — Verona — Bologna Germany – Austria – Italy
Template:Ric Berlin — Warsaw Wschodnia / Gdynia Germany – Poland
Template:Ric (Template:Rws —) Berlin — Template:Rws — Frankfurt (Main) — Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Innsbruck Hbf Germany – Austria
Template:Ric Berlin — Frankfurt (Main) — Template:Rws — Template:Rws / Template:Rws Germany –Switzerland
Template:Ric (Template:Rws —) Template:Rws — Berlin — Chemnitz / Template:Rws Germany (– Austria)
Template:Ric Kiel / Hamburg-Altona — Template:Rws — Basel — Template:Rws Germany – Switzerland
Template:Ric Hamburg-Altona — Template:Rws — Munich — Wörgl Hbf — Schwarzach-St. Veit Germany – Austria
Template:Ric Berlin — Template:Rws — Prague — Template:Rws — Template:Rws Germany – Czech Republic – Austria
Template:Ric Düsseldorf — Köln Hbf — Koblenz Hbf — Trier Hbf — Template:Rws Germany – Luxembourg
Template:Ric Amsterdam / Dortmund — Cologne — Basel (Netherlands –) Germany – Switzerland
Template:Ric (Basel Bad Bf —) Karlsruhe — Munich (Switzerland –) Germany
Template:Ric Template:Rws — Hamburg Denmark – Germany
Template:Ric Amsterdam — Berlin Ostbahnhof Netherlands – Germany
Template:Ric Amsterdam — Frankfurt Netherlands – Germany
Template:Ric Template:Rws — Frankfurt (Main) Belgium – Germany
Template:Ric Paris East — Saarbrücken / Frankfurt (Main) France – Germany
Template:Ric Paris East — Template:Rws — Munich France – Germany
Template:Ric Marseille — Frankfurt (Main) France – Germany
Template:Ric Stuttgart — Template:Rws — Template:Stn / Zurich Germany (– Switzerland)
Template:Rcb Budapest — Vienna West — Munich — Frankfurt (Main) Hungary – Austria – Germany
Template:Ric Dortmund/Hamburg-Altona — Template:Rws — Vienna Germany – Austria
Template:Rint Template:Rcb Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — Vienna West Germany – Austria
Template:Rint Template:Rcb Template:Rws — Feldkirch — Innsbruck — Vienna West Germany – Austria
Template:Ric Kulturzug Template:Rws — Template:Rws — Cottbus — Template:Rws Germany – Poland
Template:Rcb Basel Bad Bf — Template:Stn — Template:Rws — Template:Stn / Ulm Hbf Germany – Switzerland
Template:Ric Koblenz — Trier Hbf — Luxembourg Germany – Luxembourg
Template:Rcb Munich — Prague Germany – Czech Republic
Template:Rcb Berlin / Hamburg — Template:Rws — Malmö Germany – Denmark – Sweden
Template:Rcb Stuttgart — Munich — Salzburg — Template:Rws — Zagreb / Template:Rws Germany – Austria – Slovenia – Croatia
NightJet Berlin / Hamburg — Zurich Germany – Switzerland
NightJet Hamburg / Düsseldorf — Vienna / Innsbruck Germany – Austria
NightJet Vienna — Template:Rws — Berlin-Charlottenburg / Warsaw Wschodnia Austria – Czech Republic – Germany / Poland
NightJet (Stuttgart —) Munich — Salzburg — Venice / Rome Germany – Austria – Italy
Template:Rint European Sleeper Prague — Dresden — Berlin — Amsterdam — Brussels Czech Republic – Germany – Netherlands – Belgium

High-speed rail

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Urban rail

Rapid transit

Class C of Munich U-Bahn

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Template:Rint There are four rapid transit (U-Bahn) systems in Germany: Template:Div col

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Commuter rail

DB Class 425 of Hanover S-Bahn

Template:Main Template:Rint The following is a list of S-Bahn systems that serve, or served, stations in Germany (cross-border systems are marked with an *): Template:Div col

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Tramways and Stadtbahn

Bombardier Flexity Berlin of Straßenbahn Berlin

Template:Main Template:See also Template:Rint The list below summarizes tram-train / light rail / premetro (Template:Lang) systems in Germany (systems included in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn are marked with an *): Template:Div col

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Funiculars

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Mountain and rack railways

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Heritage railways

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History

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A German mine cart with a guide pin (in Fig. F), in a 1556 drawing by Georgius Agricola (De re metallica Libri XII), the forerunner of all modern railway wagons

The earliest form of railways, wagonways, were developed in Germany in the 16th century. A wagonway operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola (image right) in his work De re metallica.<ref>Georgius Agricola (trans Hoover), De re metallica (1913), p. 156.</ref> This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the cart fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Such wagonways soon became very popular in Europe.

Modern German rail history officially began with the opening of the steam-hauled Bavarian Ludwig Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth on 7 December 1835. The first long distance railway was the Leipzig-Dresden railway, completed on 7 April 1839. The Dresden Leipzig railway station was the first railway station in Dresden and was the terminus of the first German long-distance railway Leipzig–Dresden. The following years saw a rapid growth: By the year 1845, there were already more than Template:Convert of railroads in Germany, and ten years later that number was above 8,000.

German unification in 1871 stimulated consolidation, nationalization into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth.<ref>by Colleen A. Dunlavy, Politics and Industrialization: Early Railroads in the United States and Prussia (1994).</ref> Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialization, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France.<ref>Allan Mitchell, Great Train Race: Railways and the Franco-German Rivalry, 1815-1914 (2000)</ref> 1915 Leipzig Hauptbahnhof had become one of the largest stations worldwide.

Under the Weimar Republic, the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen (later Deutsche Reichsbahn) was created on 1 April 1920.

During the Second World War, austere versions of the standard locomotives were produced to speed up construction times and minimise the use of imported materials. These were the so-called war locomotives (Kriegslokomotiven and Übergangskriegslokomotiven). Absent a good highway network and trucks, the Germans relied heavily on the railways, supplemented by slower river and canal transport for bulk goods.<ref>Alfred C. Mierzejewski, The most valuable asset of the Reich. A history of the German National Railway: Vol 1: 1920-1932 (1999); Vol 2: 1933-1945 (2000)</ref>

After the war, the German railway system was split into the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Train frequency rapidly increased on the existing East/West corridors; closed links which had formerly crossed the border were re-opened. On 3 October 1990, Germany was reunified; however, this was not immediately the case with the railways. Administrative and organisational problems led to the decision to completely re-organise and reconnect Germany's railways. The so-called Bahnreform (Railway Reform) came into effect on 1 January 1994, when the two state railways were formally reunited to form the current German Railway Corporation (Deutsche Bahn).<ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Subscription required</ref> At the time the Bahnreform was seen as a "first step" towards future railway privatization and Deutsche Bahn operates as a joint stock company (AG) even though the federal government owns all stocks. However, plans for privatization were delayed by the Great Recession and ultimately cancelled altogether. The railway sector was however liberalized insofar as Deutsche Bahn lost its railway monopoly status in 1996;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> regional services are now subject to open bidding ("Regionalisierung" or "regionalization", as the responsibility for local rail services was transferred from the federal government to the 16 state governments) whereas long distance services are subject to open access operation. However, while the share of DB in the market of regional rail has declined since 1994 - in the context of an overall expanding market of regional rail service - the vast majority of long distance trains are still operated by or in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn AG.

The German railways were long protected from competition from intercity buses on journeys over Template:Cvt. However, in 2013, this protection was removed,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> leading to a significant shift from rail to bus for long journeys.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

National strikes

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

Accidents

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See also

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Notes

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References

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Further reading

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Template:Deutsche Bahn Template:Rail transport in Europe Template:Germany topics Template:Authority control

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