The approximately 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are divided into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station.
This categorisation influences the amount of money railway companies need to pay to DB Station&Service for using the facilities at the stations.
The 21 stations in Category 1 are considered traffic hubs. They are permanently staffed and carry all sorts of railway-related facilities, as well as usually featuring a shopping mall in the station. Many are the main station (German : Hauptbahnhof or Hbf) of larger cities. However, some are located in smaller cities, such as Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof, and are regarded as important because they are at the junction of important railway lines. Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, the four biggest cities in Germany, have more than one Category 1 station.
Included in this category are the following stations:
Most of the 87-odd stations in Category 2 are either important junctions for long-distance traffic or offer connections to large airports. InterCity and EuroCity trains generally call at these stations. All railway-related services, like a ticket hall and a service desk, are present at the station and the station is staffed at most times trains are running. The service is similar to Category 1 stations.
Category 2 stations, by state, are:
There are 239 Category 3 stations. These stations usually feature a hall where travellers can buy tickets and groceries, but they are not permanently staffed. Often they serve as main stations of towns with about 50,000 inhabitants.
Examples include Görlitz station, Reutlingen, Lichtenfels, Passau Hbf and Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf.
Category 4 includes around 630 stations. Most of these stations have frequent connections with RegionalExpress and RegionalBahn trains. Their service level is comparable to a bus station and they offer services to commuters. This category also includes stations situated in major cities that see a high usage of S-Bahn or RE/RB services.
Examples include Balingen, Bautzen, Montabaur, Coburg and Munich's S-Bahn stop Isartor.
Category 5 stations (1070) either belong to smaller, rural towns or to outlying suburban areas of major cities. Their inventory is frequently "vandal-proofed" due to their lower passenger numbers. Normally, only local trains call at these stations.
Examples include Sigmaringen, Köln-Holweide and Bremerhaven-Lehe.
Category 6 includes over 2500 stations, with low passenger numbers. Only the most basic equipment needed is present at the station.
Examples of stations in this category include Bad Wimpfen, Loxstedt and Hagen-Vorhalle.
Most of the 870 stations in Category 7, the lowest category, are in rural areas. These stops, which usually have no more than one platform, are served by certain local trains only. Examples of stations belonging to this category include Eggesin and Beuron.
Intercity Express is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It is the flagship of the German state railway, Deutsche Bahn. ICE fares are fixed for station-to-station connections, on the grounds that the trains have a higher level of comfort. Travelling at speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph), they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
Berlin Ostbahnhof is a main line railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the Friedrichshain quarter, now part of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, and has undergone several name changes in its history. It was known as Berlin Hauptbahnhof from 1987 to 1998, a name now applied to Berlin's new central station at the former Lehrter station. Alongside Berlin Zoologischer Garten station it was one of the city's two main stations; however, it has declined in significance since the opening of the new Hauptbahnhof on 26 May 2006, and many mainline trains have been re-routed on the North–South mainline through the new Tiergarten tunnel, bypassing Ostbahnhof.
Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof or Nuremberg Central Station is the main railway station serving the city of Nuremberg in Germany. It is the largest station in north Bavaria and belongs to the 20 stations in the highest category of importance allocated by DB Station&Service.
München Hauptbahnhof or Munich Central Station is the main railway station in the city of Munich, Germany. It is one of the three stations with long-distance services in Munich, the others being Munich East station and Munich-Pasing station (München-Pasing). München Hauptbahnhof sees about 450,000 passengers a day, which puts it on par with other large stations in Germany, such as Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and two in Munich, the other being München Ost. The mainline station is a terminal station with 32 platforms. The subterranean S-Bahn with 2 platforms and U-Bahn stations with 6 platforms are through stations.
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, or Hamburg Central Railway Station in English, is the main railway station of the city of Hamburg, Germany. Opened in 1906 to replace four separate terminal stations, today Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is operated by DB Station&Service AG. With an average of 550,000 passengers a day, it is Germany's busiest railway station and the second-busiest in Europe after the Gare du Nord in Paris. It is classed by Deutsche Bahn as a category 1 railway station.
Köln Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station of Cologne, Germany. The station is an important local, national and international transport hub, with many ICE, Eurostar and Intercity trains calling there, as well as regional Regional-Express, RegionalBahn and local S-Bahn trains. EuroNight and Nightjet night services also call at the station. It has frequent connections to Frankfurt by way of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line, which starts in southern Cologne. On an average day, about 280,000 travellers frequent the station, making it the fifth busiest station in Germany.
Dresden Hauptbahnhof is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the Böhmischen Bahnhof of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway, and was designed with its formal layout as the central station of the city. The combination of a station building on an island between the tracks and a terminal station on two different levels is unique. The building is notable for its train-sheds, which are roofed with Teflon-coated glass fibre membranes. This translucent roof design, installed during the comprehensive restoration of the station at the beginning of the 21st century, allows more daylight to reach the concourses than was previously possible.
Munich East station is a railway station in Munich, the state capital of Bavaria, Germany. It opened as Haidhausen station in 1871 on the new Munich–Mühldorf and Munich–Rosenheim railway lines. The station is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. It is classified as a Category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and two in Munich, the other being München Hauptbahnhof. It is the city's third interregional station besides München Hauptbahnhof in the city centre and München-Pasing in the west.
Hamm (Westf) Hauptbahnhof (often abbreviated Hamm (Westf) or simply Hamm (W)) is a railway station situated in the city of Hamm in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is notable for its station building inspired by art deco and Gründerzeit building styles. The station is one of the important InterCityExpress rail hubs in the eastern Ruhr area and is among the high-profile buildings of Hamm. Until the decline of rail freight after the Second World War, it featured one of Europe's largest marshalling yards.
Bonn Hauptbahnhof is a railway station located on the left bank of the Rhine along the Cologne–Mainz line. It is the principal station serving the city of Bonn. In addition to extensive rail service from Deutsche Bahn it acts as a hub for local bus, tram, and Stadtbahn services.
The Interregio-Express (IRE) is a local public transport railway service operated by the Deutsche Bahn which is only available in the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin as well as in Switzerland. The IRE service was first introduced in the 2001 summer timetable, due to the increasing abolition of Interregio routes by DB's long-distance division. As a result, several German states ordered InterRegioExpress trains on the routes affected. In addition IRE trains were also introduced on routes that had not previously had an Interregio service.
The Main–Weser Railway is a railway line in central Germany that runs from Frankfurt am Main via Gießen to Kassel. it is named after the railway company that built the line and also operated it until 1880. It was opened between 1849 and 1852 and was one of the first railways in Germany.
This article shows a list of railway stations in Germany. The list is subdivided per federal state. Due to the number of railway stations it shows a selection of the principal stations and links to related state articles. Where there are 2 or more passenger stations in a large town or city, the most important is often designated by the Deutsche Bahn as the Hauptbahnhof, of which there are 122 in total.
Frankfurt (Main) West station is a railway station for regional and S-Bahn services in Frankfurt, Germany, on the Main-Weser Railway, in the district of Bockenheim, near the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds and the Bockenheim campus of the Goethe University Frankfurt.
Lübeck Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station serving the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is a through station at the western edge of the city centre. With around 31,000 travelers and visitors each day, Lübeck Hbf is the busiest of all the railway stations in Schleswig-Holstein. It is classified by the Deutsche Bahn as a category 2 station.
Trier Hauptbahnhof is a railway station for the city of Trier, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a through station, about 500 metres (550 yd) east of the inner city and the Porta Nigra.
Intercity (IC) is the second-highest train classification in Germany, after the Intercity Express (ICE). Intercity services are locomotive-hauled express trains, usually over long-distances. There are Intercity routes throughout Germany and routes generally operate every other hour, with multiple routes giving a more frequent service on core routes. Intercity services are operated by the DB Fernverkehr division of Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway.
Locomore was a German railway company that operated a higher-speed inter-city rail open access service between four of the most populous German metropolitan areas in 2016-2017 i.e. the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region, Rhine-Neckar, Frankfurt Rhine-Main and Berlin-Brandenburg. The service stopped at 18 railway stations, including the major German cities of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hanover and Berlin. It operated at a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph).
 | This section includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(May 2023) |
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| Lists of German railway stations by state | ||