Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn (DB, ). , the railway network in Germany (DB only) had a length of , of which were electrified and were double track. About are high-speed railway lines. Germany has the 6th longest railway network in the world, and the second largest in Europe after Russia.

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. It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by both passengers and freight, and good ratings for quality of service and safety. 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.

Germany's rail freight of 117 billion tons/kilometer meant it carried 17.6% of all inland German cargo in 2015.

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 () 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.

Passenger/payload-distancePassenger/payloadAverage distancePassengerLong-distance42,886,000,000 148,629,000Local54,919,000,000 pkm2,724,800,000Sum97,805,000,000 pkm2,873,429,000Freight116,273,000,000 354,430,000 t

Operators

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 (), 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.

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. Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of buses and passenger trains in Germany. Also Netinera (previously ) 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. The long-distance market generally does not require government funding.

Special schemes

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 program, saying it occasionally led to overcrowding of trains.

The Deutschlandticket replaces the 9-Euro-Ticket. This subscription public transport ticket cost €49 per month when it was introduced in 2023 and is valid for all local public transport in Germany. The price for the Deutschlandticket was raised to €58 per month in January 2025 and once again to €63 per month in January 2026. This was met with criticism, mainly due to concerns that the price increase would unfairly affect lower-income families and cause more people to use cars instead of public transport.

Stations

Platform height

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 and .2002/735/EC, sections 7.3.4 and 4.2.5

In Germany new builds are 550 mm and 760 mm. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has new builds with 550 mm. Hesse, NRW, and Berlin had new builds with 760 mm.

Routes

Track gauges

GaugeNotesNameMetric (mm)Imperial1,8005 ft  inOberweißbacher Bergbahn (funicular section only)Irish gauge1,6005 ft 3 inGrand Duchy of Baden State Railway 1840–1855Russian gauge1,5204 ft inOnly at Sassnitz/Mukran ferry terminal for freight train ferries to Klaipėda and Baltijsk1,4584 ft  inLeipziger Verkehrsbetriebe AG1,4504 ft  inDresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AGStandard gauge1,4354 ft inThe standard gauge both domestically and internationallyMetre gauge1,0003 ft inHarz Narrow Gauge Railways, trams9002 ft  inMecklenburgische Bäderbahn Molli7502 ft  inLößnitzgrundbahn; Weißeritztalbahn; Döllnitzbahn GmbH; Zittauer Schmalspurbahn; Fichtelbergbahn

Signals

Rolling stock

In 2014 (local passenger) and 2015 (other), the rolling stock used in Germany included the following numbers of vehicle types. PassengerFreightSumLong-distanceLocalHigh speedOtherRailwaysTramwaysEMUs1435581637112114DMUs19Electric locomotives164228114216274174Diesel locomotives29984Carriages972170643977868013Control cars45107Wagons141143141143

Services

Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn Long-distance services of Deutsche Bahn (DB) are operated by its DB Fernverkehr () division: InterCity-Express (ICE) – high speed train, largely national but some routes to the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France, and Denmark EuroCity (EC) – international long-distance trains to larger cities in Europe. InterCity (IC) – national long-distance trains EuroNight (EN) – international night trains

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

The UrlaubsExpress (), 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 EuroStar Red (previously Thalys) – high-speed services to Belgium and France, using modified French TGV trains. Eurocity / InterCity – trains operated by non-German companies that cross the border EuroCity-Express (ECE) – on two routes (Frankfurt (Main) – Basel – Milano and Munich – Zurich) since 2020, operated by Swiss Federal Railways (runs as EuroCity/EC in Switzerland and Italy) Flixtrain – operates a handful of long-distance trains; Flixtrain is a subsidiary of Flixbus, mostly an operator of long-distance buses Railjet (RJ) – operated by ÖBB, runs services to Austria NightJet (NJ) – a sleeper train operated by ÖBB to destinations in mainland Europe Westbahn – operates services to Austria

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

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). Regional-Express (RE) and InterRegio-Express (IRE) – medium-distance semi-fast trains for regional services Regionalbahn (RB) – basic local service, usually calling at all stations Metropolexpress (MEX) – local train in the state of Baden-Württemberg S-Bahn (S) – suburban rail services mostly provided by Deutsche Bahn U-Bahn (U) – underground train services provided by the various cities' transport bodies (not Deutsche Bahn) Tram () / light rail services – tramways are in place in several cities, in a few major cities these run underground in the city centre (often called Stadtbahn, especially if they have been upgraded to railway standards)

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

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

Rail links to adjacent countries

Germany has rail links to all of its nine neighbouring nations. These countries use the same mainline gauge (), although electrification (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz) and other systems such as signalling may differ. Denmark — voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz Poland — voltage change to 3 kV DC Czech Republic — voltage change to 3 kV DC Austria — same voltage Switzerland — same voltage, but different pantographs France — voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz (no direct connection to France's 1500 V DC network) Luxembourg— voltage change to 25 kV AC 50 Hz Belgium — voltage change to 3 kV DC The Netherlands — voltage change to 1500 V DC or 25 kV AC 50 Hz (at / ; for trains to , a further change to 1500 V DC follows)

There are also train ferries (carrying only goods wagons) between Rostock and Trelleborg (Sweden) across the Baltic Sea. 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 ().

International passenger trains

The table includes operational cross-border services, 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.