The Deutsche Bahn AG is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company (AG) and the largest railway company in the world.
The Rheingold ('Rhinegold') was a named train that operated between Hook of Holland, near Rotterdam, and Geneva, Switzerland, a distance of 1,067 kilometres (663 mi), until 1987. Another section of the train started in Amsterdam and was coupled to the Hoek cars in Utrecht. The Rheingold ran along the Rhine River via Arnhem, Netherlands, and Cologne, Germany, using special luxury coaches. It was named after Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold opera, which romanticized the Rhine. From 1965 until the train's discontinuation in 1987, the Rheingold was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE) train.
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits is a Belgian-founded French company known for providing and operating luxury trains with sleepers and dining cars during the late 19th and the 20th centuries, most notably the Orient Express. Founded by Georges Nagelmackers in 1872, CIWL developed an international network of trains beginning in Europe, and later expanding to Asia and Africa. The trains provided luxury and comfort at a time when travelling was still rough and dangerous. The Armistice with Germany was signed in a CIWL train carriage, the Compiègne Wagon, on November 11, 1918.
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany until after German reunification, when it was merged with the former East German Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) to form Deutsche Bahn, which came into existence on 1 January 1994.
DB Fernverkehr AG is a semi-independent division of Deutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn, under the name of DB Reise&Touristik and was renamed in 2003.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR(German Reich Railways) was the operating name of state owned railways in the East Germany, and after German reunification until 1 January 1994.
The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn is a polycentric and electrically driven S-bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr, the Berg cities of Wuppertal and Solingen and parts of the Rhineland. The easternmost city within the S-Bahn Rhine-Ruhr network is Unna, the westernmost city served is Mönchengladbach.
The Double-deck Coach is a bilevel passenger railcar currently manufactured by Alstom, which acquired Bombardier Transportation in 2021 used by various European railways and Israel Railways. The current generation of double-deck coaches can be run at speeds up to 200 km/h (125 mph). Depending on their configuration, each coach can seat 100 to 150 passengers.
City Night Line, abbreviated CNL, was a train category of German railway company Deutsche Bahn for overnight passenger train services between Germany and neighbouring European countries. In late 2015, Deutsche Bahn announced that it planned to terminate all night train services in December 2016, and this plan was implemented on 11 December 2016. The service on some CNL routes was replaced by ÖBB Nightjet services.
The Nuremberg Transport Museum in Nuremberg, Germany, consists of Deutsche Bahn's DB Museum and the Museum of Communications. It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel and Halle. The Nuremberg Transport Museum is one of the oldest technical history museums in Europe and is a milestone on the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH).
German Kleinlokomotiven like the DRG Kö II were developed as locomotives with a low weight and driving power for light shunting duties. There were two classes, based on engine power. The Class II were engines which developed more than 40 HP.
An Ausbesserungswerk is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a 'repair shop' or 'works'. It is also referred to as a Centralwerkstatt or Zentralwerkstatt or Hauptwerkstatt. During the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) period between the two world wars as well as the period of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany these facilities were called Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke.
A Schnellzug is an express train in German-speaking countries. The term is used both generically and also as a specific train type. In Germany and Austria it is also referred to colloquially as a D-Zug, a short form of Durchgangszug, and express train services were often given numbers preceded by the letter D. The similar term, snälltåg, was used in Sweden until January 1980.
DB AutoZug GmbH was a German rail transport company that provided automobile (Motorail) and night passenger train services for Deutsche Bahn AG. It was based in Dortmund and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. On 30 September 2013 the company was merged into DB AG's long-distance division DB Fernverkehr.
The Bundesbahn Central Offices or BZA in Minden and Munich was the department of the Deutsche Bundesbahn responsible for technological development and procurement of rail vehicles and infrastructure. Additionally, accounting and statistical services, as well as technical standards for the West German state railway system, were provided by the BZA.
The German Sleeper and Dining Car Company was a subsidiary of Deutsche Bundesbahn with its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, that emerged from the Mitropa infrastructure left in West Germany in 1949. It existed until 1994 when it was combined with the East German Mitropa to form Mitropa AG.
The Stuttgart–Horb railway is a 67.227 kilometer-long railway in the southern part of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, running from Stuttgart to Horb. It forms part of a railway known as the Gäubahn or Gäu Railway. The Royal Württemberg State Railways and the Baden State Railways constructed the majority of this line between the years 1866 and 1879. Today the partially single-track, fully electrified line features the high-speed Intercity-Express (ICE) service, with its tilting train technology, traveling from Stuttgart to Zürich. In addition, a multitude of local train services of numerous railway companies are on offer. The Gäu Railway is also a significant line in the North-South freight service system.
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.
The Albert Schweitzer was a short-lived express train that linked Dortmund Hbf in Dortmund, Germany, with Strasbourg-Ville in Strasbourg, France. Introduced in 1980, it was operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and the SNCF.
The Komet was an international overnight express train service between Germany and Switzerland, which was in operation from 1954 to 2016. Its name reflected the notion that the Comet train and an actual comet can both be described as travelling through the night at high speed. It was introduced in 1954. It became a EuroCity (EC) service upon the launch of the EC network in 1987. It became categorised as CityNightLine (CNL) service in the mid-1990s. With the decision by Deutsche Bahn to terminate all CNL services in December 2016, the Komet ran for the last time on 10–11 December 2016.
