Rail Transport in Germany - Overview

Overview

Deutsche Bahn and ca. 150 private railway companies operated a total of 23,496 powered rail vehicles:

In 2006, railways in Germany carried ca. 119,968,000 passengers in long-distance trains (at an average distance of 288 km), and 2,091,828,000 passengers in short-distance trains (21 km on average). In the same year they carried 346,118,000 tonnes of goods at an average distance of 309 km.

Deutsche Bahn (state-owned private company) is the main provider of railway service. In recent years a number of competitors have started business. They mostly offer state-subsidized regional services, but some, like Veolia Verkehr offer long-distance services as well.

• Deutsche Bahn long distance trains
  • Intercity-Express (high speed train which is either national or on some routes to the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France and Denmark)
  • EuroCity (international long-distance trains)
  • Intercity (national long-distance trains)
  • EuroNight (international night trains)
  • DB NachtZug (national and international night trains)
  • UrlaubsExpress (national night trains to the Alps and the Baltic Sea during vacation times)

The InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 and replacing the former Schnellzug and the Intercity, have been abolished in 2003. Generally Deutsche Bahn increases the percentage of InterCityExpress services, gradually downgrading the remaining InterCity services into the role formerly played by InterRegio.

• Veolia Verkehr (offers services on former Interregio routes)
  • Interconnex
  • Harz-Berlin-Express
  • Ostseeland Express

• Thalys (high-speed train to Belgium and France; adapted French TGV)
• Cisalpino (to Italy, service discontinued mid-December 2006)

• Regional rail and local rail traffic is ordered and paid for (as the fares usually do not cover the expenses) by the federal states. 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 e. g. on rolling stock. In the past years, many bids were won by private rail companies like NordWestBahn or Arriva, although some states have awarded long-term contracts to local DB Regio subsidiaries. The train types for regional and local traffic are:
  • Regional-Express and Interregio-Express (medium-distance semi-fast trains for regional services)
  • Regionalbahn (basic local service, usually calling at all stations)
  • S-Bahn (suburban rail transport offered mainly by Deutsche Bahn, sometimes by others)
  • U-Bahn (underground)
  • Tram (light rail services, sometimes including underground passages in the city centers)