The history of Germany’s railroads can be split into four different eras (to steal from Taylor Swift a bit). The Early Years and Unification Eras are where Germany’s rail network started off and exploded onto the scene. Then came The Split and Reunification Eras, which laid the foundation for modern day railroading in Germany.

Early Years

Modern train history in Germany began in 1835, with the opening of the Bavarian Ludwig Railway line between Nuremberg and Fürth. This 6 km (3.7 mile) line designed to alleviate traffic on the busiest road in Bavaria at the time.

Four years later, the Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie (Leipzig-Dresden Railway Company) completed the construction of the first long-distance railway. Connecting Leipzig and Dresden, this 116 km (72.1 mile) long railway included the 513 meter (just over 1/4 mile) long Oberau Tunnel, which was the first standard gauge rail tunnel in continental Europe.

Unification

Over the next 40 years, the train system in Germany expanded rapidly. The unification of the various private and state-owned railway companies into a nationalized company occurred in 1871. This significantly boosted the already rapid growth. By the time 1880 came around, there were 9,400 trains moving 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight per year. This shot Germany to the forefront of modern railroads.

This era of unification also gave rise to what is called the Nebenbahn (branch line) – aka secondary, neighborhood, or local lines. In this hub-and-spoke model, each major city has a main hub called a Hauptbahnhof (main/central station) or Hbf for short. From the central station, the lines branch out into various different smaller stations and towns. This is usually accomplished by U-Bahn or S-Bahn services, but more on that later.

The Split

The second world war is where the stereotypical German efficiency made its debut in the rail network. In an effort to reduce construction times and reliance on imported materials, locomotives took on a simplified design known as the Kriegslokomotive (war locomotive). The DRB Class 52 is the most common of this type, with more than 6,300 built between 1942 and 1945.

By the end of world war two, Germany was divided into 4 main zones: American, British, French, and Soviet. The first three combined into what was known as West Germany, while the Soviets formed East Germany. This also split the existing train network in Germany into the Deutsche Bundesbahn (West) and Deutsche Reichsbahn (East).

Reunification

While the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the official reunification of Germany in October 1990 were important times for the people of Germany, the train network had a few more years to wait. The Bahnreform (Railway Reform), which merged the two state railways, went into effect in January of 1994. What was formed has since been known as Deutsche Bahn (DB).

This reform was originally seen as the first step towards railway privatization. DB operated as a federally-owned joint stock company, with plans to sell stocks to private companies. Thankfully it didn’t take too long for the German railway system to become liberalized. DB lost its monopoly in 1996, opening up regional services to competition and open bidding. Unfortunately the Great Recession of 2008 delayed, and ultimately cancelled, full privatization efforts.

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Types of German Rail Travel

As mentioned in my previous train travel post, Germany has three types: U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and Long Distance/High Speed. This will be a deeper dive into the different types along with our experience with each of them.

U-Bahn and Trams

In Germany there are four main U-Bahn train systems, which are located in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Nuremberg. Each system is run by their respective city transit authorities. While they technically don’t have a U-Bahn, some cities like Frankfurt also refer to part of their Stadtbahn (city train) as the U-Bahn. This is to help differentiate it from the rest of the city’s S-Bahn system. It’s a bit confusing. Much like the name suggests, these rail systems run almost exclusively underground in very short intervals – with the trams at street level being the exception. A typical U-Bahn trip from end to end only takes about 30 minutes. Our wait time at the station was usually less than 5 minutes. Even times when we happened to miss a train, the next one was along within a couple minutes.

Overall we enjoyed our experience with the U-Bahn systems we encountered. It helped that we have lived in a few major cities with metros (NYC and Philly), so previous exposure to the system type was helpful. One thing that really stood out to me was the efficiency with which cities in Germany run their train systems. They are able to run U-Bahn lines with smaller cars/less seats, but much more frequently without compromising comfort. Our only complaints during the trip were the lack of AC in the trams in Frankfurt (we were there at the tail end of a heat wave), and having to get off a tram in Munich due to a car accident. Not that they could do anything about the second one!

Frankfurt

Frankfurt’s U-Bahn consists of 9 lines, all of which are short – between 15 and 28 stations. Our experience was strictly with the U5 and PtB Tram rolling stock, and compared to some of the outdated systems that we have experienced in America it was very enjoyable. The train cars were almost entirely walkthrough, meaning no having to go through a door to get to the next car. Additionally, the spacing inside the cars was superb, even on full trains during rush-hour we never felt cramped. I wish I could say the same for the subways in New York City and Philadelphia. If you know, you know.

Stuttgart

The U-Bahn in Stuttgart seems more like an S-Bahn, consisting of 16 lines with between 11 and 46 stations each, with travel times reaching an hour. This “U-Bahn” has five active types of train cars, all of which are variants of the SSB (Stuttgart StadtBahn) S-DT 8. Again we found the cars to be very spacious, clean, and comfortable. Frankfurt’s U-Bahn cars have a teal color scheme, while Stuttgart’s colors are yellow and black.

Munich

Munich’s U-Bahn (one of the true U-Bahn’s in Germany) is in a class of its own compared to the others we experienced. Munich is the modern day standard, with 6 main lines and 2 booster lines that only run during rush hour (U7) or Saturdays (U8) – each with between 15 and 20 stations. The MVG Class B trains continued the themes from the previous two cities: space and comfort were at the forefront and we never had to wait more than a couple minutes for a train. Additionally the Munich U-Bahn trains run at 80km/h (50 mph), which is the fastest U-Bahn in Germany!

S-Bahn

S-Bahn in Germany usually stands for one of three different names that are very similar: Stadtbahn, Schnellbahn (rapid train), or the combo Stadtschnellbahn (rapid city train). These are similar to most major cities light rail networks, think the Regional Rail in Philadelphia or Metro North and LIRR in New York City. S-Bahns typically run less frequently than the U-Bahns, every 20 mins is normal, but also have much larger systems and routes. The systems we took ranged from 215km to 434km of total track, two to four times larger than the largest U-Bahn system we rode.

We didn’t have much interaction with the S-Bahn systems during our time in Frankfurt and Munich. Oddly enough we only used them in those cities at the bookends of our trip, when coming from and going to the airport. We never felt overly cramped for space, even though these were essentially packed airport trains. The Munich S-Bahn even had padded bars in some spots to allow you to lean comfortably when you couldn’t sit down.

On the other hand, we did spend a significant amount of time on Stuttgart’s S-Bahn system. I was 100% responsible for this, as the two car museums I wanted to see were located in outer neighborhoods of Stuttgart. Both our trip back from the Mercedes museum and the longer trip out to the Porsche museum were wonderful. While the station at Neckarpark was down a random road behind the Mercedes factory, it was clean and well taken care of. The Porsche museum had its own dedicated station making it easy to find. The Class 430 trains we took back to the hotel were quiet, fast, and comfortable. After a few hours walking around museums it was all we could ask for.

Long-Distance and High Speed

Now this may just be a me thing, but Long-Distance and High Speed trains are the top of the list when it comes to trains. So being able to go to Germany to experience what I consider to be the best high speed train in the world, the ICE (InterCity Express), was certainly a core memory. Unfortunately we only got take two trips, from Frankfurt to Stuttgart and then on to Munich, but we did get the full DB experience on one of them.

DB runs a ton of different ICE variants, with some for testing (ICE S), international travel (ICE 3neo), and even tilting ones (ICE T). However the most likely ones you will see are the main four generations: ICE 1, 2, 3, and 4. The ICE 1 and 2 were built and put into service back in the early and late 90’s. They are a grand testament to German engineering, as 101 of the 106 trainsets are still in active service. Unfortunately we didn’t get to experience either of these types, but we did ride in a ICE 3 and 4.

The trip from Frankfurt to Stuttgart was originally scheduled to be on ICE 573, which was running an ICE 4 train set. In a spot of luck, that train got delayed. Now I know most wouldn’t consider a delay lucky, but it meant that an ICE 3neo replaced it from Frankfurt, running as ICE 2933. We were only scheduled to ride ICE 4s during this trip, so it was great to have the opportunity to ride on an ICE 3neo. This was the stereotypical DB delay that we feared would drop our first class seat reservations, as is typical with replacement services. The good news was that we still had reserved seats on the new train. Bad news? We were no longer sitting across from each other. Allison ended up seated at a 4-top with two very nice older German ladies and their dog.

First class is the highest DB offers on their train, and man it does show. The seats are well padded, with large headrests and generous legroom. As to be expected from first class, our long trips were super comfortable. Even if Allison had been sitting across from me with her bag we wouldn’t have disturbed each other.

Normally with first class you can order from your seat, but due to this being a replacement service that wasn’t available. I did venture down to the famous Bordrestaurant (onboard restaurant) car and am pleased to say it lived up to the hype. For a little less than €13 I was able to get 0.5l water, medium hot chocolate, and a butter croissant. Considering that we were in DB’s best train this was a great value. A similar meal at an airport or train station can easily fetch up to $20.

Thankfully, our next trip from Stuttgart down to Munich was much less eventful. While we did still get a typical DB delay of 15 mins, we didn’t have any other major issues. Again we were in first class and enjoyed the comfort and space our seats provided. This wasn’t a replacement service so the menu option was fully available, but since this was a bit later in the day and we’d already eaten neither of us used it.

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Tickets

Train tickets in Germany come in one of two different flavors. There is either Deutsche Bahn (DB) tickets or tickets provided by the individual German states. DB being the national rail company of Germany runs a lot of the major lines in the country – all of the long-distance and S-Bahn services are all run by DB. This makes ticketing a bit simpler for longer journeys. Allowing people to travel from one neighborhood to another in a different city within one app is wonderful.

Deutsche Bahn

Since DB runs all of the longer routes in the country, they strive to make ticketing as easy as possible. They offer the three traditional ways to purchase a ticket: via app, online, or in person. In my opinion, your best options would be either the DB Navigator app or their website. Both offer the same basic selections, like start and end stations, date/time, and seat type. Additionally you have the option to see not only the fastest route, but also the most direct. But if you need specific help or hate technology there is also the ticket office located at most major stations.

Ticket prices can range wildly depending on the type of trip you are taking. Both of our long-distance trips cost a little less than €155 total. While we normally stick to coach seats, the upgrade to first class wasn’t significantly more expensive and we decided to splurge. Compared to the prices I’ve seen for similar distance trips in the US, this was a steal.