Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG, often called DB, is the national railway company of Germany. It is owned by the German government and runs as a state-owned enterprise. Its main office is located in the Bahntower in Berlin.

DB was created in 1994 when two older railway companies, Deutsche Bundesbahn and the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn, merged together after Germany unified. Since then, it has been helping people travel across the country. Deutsche Bahn is the second-largest transport company in Germany, after Deutsche Post and DHL.

In 2022, DB helped about 132 million people travel long distances and 1.6 billion people travel shorter distances in their local areas. It also moved a huge amount of goods, moving about 222 million tons of cargo that year.

Company profile

The Deutsche Bahn group has several companies, including DB Fernverkehr for long-distance passenger travel, DB Regio for local passenger services, and DB Cargo for rail freight. Another subsidiary, DB InfraGO, manages much of Germany’s railway infrastructure, making it the largest rail network in Europe.

About half of the company’s revenue comes from rail transport. The other half comes from transport and logistics services, along with support for keeping and expanding railway infrastructure. The Deutsche Bahn Group works with many smaller companies to handle different tasks.

Rail transport

DB Personenverkehr is the part of Deutsche Bahn that takes care of passenger travel in Germany. It used to be called Reise & Touristik, meaning 'Travel and Tourism'. This group looks after all the passenger train services in Germany and is split into two parts: DB Fernverkehr and DB Regio.

DB Fernverkehr

Main article: DB Fernverkehr

DB Fernverkehr AG is a part of Deutsche Bahn that runs long-distance trains in Germany. It started in 1999 and was first called DB Reise & Touristik, but changed its name in 2003. DB Fernverkehr runs all the Intercity Express and Intercity trains in Germany and some nearby countries. It also runs several EuroCity and EuroCityExpress trains across Europe. DB Fernverkehr used to run some long-distance coach services called IC Bus, but these have stopped.

DB Regio

Main article: DB Regio

DB Regio AG is another part of Deutsche Bahn that runs trains for shorter and medium distances in Germany. Unlike DB Fernverkehr, DB Regio does not run its own trains. The Bundesländer, which are the states of Germany, decide where and how often the trains run. DB Regio has different regional companies for different parts of Germany, such as DB Regio Nord for Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, and others. It also includes services like S-Bahn Hamburg and S-Bahn Berlin. There are also many smaller bus companies under DB Regio.

Logistics

Main article: DB Cargo

The Transport and Logistics division worked with business units DB Schenker and DB Cargo, which were grouped together under DB Schenker. There was also an Intermodal division that handled combined transport. In 2016, rail freight transport was separated from logistics, and DB Schenker Rail became DB Cargo.

Together with the logistics provider time:matters, DB offers to carry packages weighing up to 20 kg (44 lb) on its EC/IC/ICE trains.

Infrastructure

DB InfraGO

The infrastructure division was split into three parts: DB Netz for rail infrastructure, DB Station&Service for stations and services, and DB Energie for energy. By the end of December 2023, DB Netz and DB Station&Service joined together to form DB InfraGO AG. This new company aims to improve communication between the two previous firms.

DB Engineering & Consulting

DB Engineering & Consulting handles construction supervision, planning, and maintenance. In May 2017, this part of Deutsche Bahn signed an agreement with Iran’s rail operator, but these plans stopped when the United States placed new rules on companies working with Iran. Later, in November 2017, the California High-Speed Rail Authority chose DB Engineering & Consulting USA to help plan and design California’s high-speed rail system. This company is the U.S. branch of Deutsche Bahn AG.

Foreign ventures

Deutsche Bahn bought a company called Arriva in August 2010. Arriva runs buses and trains in many European countries, mostly in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Deutsche Bahn tried to sell Arriva in 2019 but couldn’t. In October 2023, they agreed to sell it to I Squared Capital, and the sale finished on June 4, 2024.

Deutsche Bahn also owns DB Cargo UK, the largest train freight company in the United Kingdom. This company takes care of special trains, like the British Royal Train, and works in Eastern Europe too. You can see train times for trips all over Europe on Deutsche Bahn’s website.

Deutsche Bahn works with Russian Railways on a project called Trans-Eurasia Logistics. This joint venture moves container freight trains from Germany to China through Russia.

History

See also: History of rail transport in Germany

Background: the Deutsche Reichsbahn

Main article: Deutsche Reichsbahn

The railway network in Germany started in 1835 with the first tracks laid between Nuremberg and Fürth. The Deutsche Reichsbahn ran from 1920 through different times in Germany until 1949. After that, it split into two parts, Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deutsche Bundesbahn, for East and West Germany. These two parts joined again after Germany reunited in 1990. On January 1, 1994, they merged to form Deutsche Bahn. At the same time, Deutsche Bahn started using its current logo and the short name DB. When Deutsche Bahn began in 1994, it became a company owned by the German government, meant to run the railways for both East and West Germany as one united system.

Originally, Deutsche Bahn’s main office was in Frankfurt am Main, but it moved to Potsdamer Platz in Berlin in 1996. The office is in a tall building called Bahntower. There were plans to move again, but these were delayed. Construction on a new office building called "Cube Berlin" started in 2017 and finished in February 2020. This building will hold some offices but won’t be the main office yet.

1999 to present

In 1999, Deutsche Bahn made big changes to how it was organized. This helped follow rules from Europe that allow other companies to use railway lines. In December 2007, Deutsche Bahn reorganized again, grouping all its passenger services, logistics, and infrastructure into different parts of the company.

Deutsche Bahn is owned by the German government, which must keep most of the company’s infrastructure stocks. In 2008, there were plans to sell a part of the company to private buyers, but this was stopped because of financial problems worldwide.

In June 2018, there were problems with railway services in the United Kingdom operated by Deutsche Bahn, leading to an enquiry by Britain’s transport minister.

In 2024, Deutsche Bahn had many challenges during the Euro 2024 football tournament, with frequent train delays and cancellations. The company reported a large financial loss and announced plans to reduce its workforce. In September 2024, Deutsche Bahn agreed to sell a part of its business to a Danish company for $15.84 billion.

Logo

1 April 1920 to 26 April 1945,  

operating as _Deutsche Reichsbahn_

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30 August 1924 to 31 December 1993,  
operating as _Deutsche Reichsbahn_.  
This mark was used in tandem with the previous logo until April 1945.

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10 October 1946 to 31 December 1993,  
operating as _Deutsche Bundesbahn_

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Current logo, in use since 1 January 1994,  
operating as _Deutsche Bahn_

Train categories

Trains in Germany are sorted by how often they stop, their speed, and the comfort they offer.

Long-distance trains

• ICE (Intercity-Express) are fast trains that go between big cities and even into other countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Austria.
• EC (EuroCity) are trains that go between cities in different countries. Sometimes, other countries’ train companies run these trains.
• IC (InterCity) are long-distance trains that are a bit slower than ICE trains. They stop more often and might use regular tracks instead of special fast tracks. Some IC trains also go to other countries as EuroCity trains.

Other train companies also run trains in Germany, working together with Deutsche Bahn. Examples include:

• ECE for fast trains between Frankfurt and Milan, and Munich and Zurich, working with SBB.
• TGV from France to Frankfurt and Munich via Stuttgart, working with SNCF.
• Railjet from Austria to Munich and Frankfurt, and from Prague to Berlin, working with ÖBB and ČD.

Regional trains

• IRE (Interregio-Express) are longer regional trains that connect areas and cities. They only run on one special route between Berlin-Lichtenberg and Wrocław Główny.
• RE (Regional-Express) connect regions and cities but don’t stop at every station.
• RB (Regionalbahn) stop at every station where there are no fast city trains (S-Bahn). These are usually the simplest trains.
• S (S-Bahn) are fast city trains that stop at every station and go through the city center.

Some places in Germany might call these trains different names. For example, around Nuremberg, RE and RB trains might just be called R.

Former categories

• D (D-Zug or Schnellzug) used to be the fastest train type but was replaced by IC and ICE trains. Some special cars still called D trains run between the island of Sylt and the mainland.
• E (Eilzug) were medium-speed trains for shorter trips. They don’t have a direct replacement now.
• IR (InterRegio) were trains for connecting cities and regions at lower prices but were replaced by IC, RE, and IRE trains.
• MET (Metropolitan) was a special comfortable train service between Hamburg and Cologne from 1999 to 2004. The train cars were later used for IC and ICE services.
• N (Nahverkehrszug) were basic trains that stopped at every station. They were later called RB when all local trains started running at regular times.
• SE (Stadt-Express) were trains that skipped some stations in cities but stopped at every station in the countryside. They were later called RE or RB. This name stopped being used in December 2016.

Tickets

Deutsche Bahn has two main ways to buy tickets for long-distance train trips. The Flexpreis ticket lets you ride any train on your chosen day, and you can get your money back if you change your plans before the trip starts. The Sparpreis and Super-Sparpreis tickets cost less but must be bought before your trip and only work for one specific train route.

Ticket prices usually go up the farther you travel, especially for the cheaper Sparpreis and Super-Sparpreis tickets. Only first class Flexpreis tickets include a seat reservation, so you might not get a guaranteed seat even if you have a ticket for just one train.

Local trains also accept tickets from local transport groups, which work on buses, trams, and U-Bahn trains too.

Deutsche Bahn offers special discount cards called BahnCard. The BahnCard 25 gives 25% off Flexpreis and Sparpreis tickets, BahnCard 50 gives 50% off Flexpreis and 25% off Sparpreis, and BahnCard 100 lets you travel unlimited on most trains for a year. There are also special tickets like the Länder-Tickets for travel within a state, and Interrail tickets that let groups of up to five people travel together for one price.

Sponsorship

Deutsche Bahn helped support a German football team called Hertha BSC from 2006 until 2015.