Train routes in Germany

Amsterdam → Frankfurt · 440 km · 3 h 56 min

DB / NS · ICE 3neo · Class 408

ICE 3M multi-system sets leave Amsterdam and, past Cologne, dive onto the 300 km/h Cologne–Rhine/Main line with its motorway-style gradients.

Paris → Frankfurt · 573 km · 3 h 49 min

SNCF · Deutsche Bahn · TGV Euroduplex · ICE 3

A Franco-German alliance since 2007: 320 km/h on the LGV Est to Lorraine, then the Saar and Rhine-Main into Frankfurt, TGV and ICE sharing the run.

Hamburg → Munich · 780 km · 5 h 45 min

Deutsche Bahn · ICE 4

Germany’s busiest long-distance axis, the length of the country from the Elbe to the Isar via Hanover, the Fulda gap and Nuremberg.

Frankfurt → Stuttgart · 184 km · 1 h 20 min

Deutsche Bahn · ICE 3

Down the Rhine-Neckar to Mannheim and up into the Swabian capital: a hard-worked spine of the south-west ICE network.

Munich → Vienna · 460 km · 4 h

ÖBB · DB · ÖBB Railjet

Bavaria to the Danube capital along the Westbahn, past Salzburg’s fortress and the baroque abbeys of Upper Austria.

Brussels → Cologne · 210 km · 1 h 47 min

Deutsche Bahn · ICE 3

The high-speed link binding Belgium to the Rhineland: past Liège’s soaring Calatrava station and over the language border at Aachen, Charlemagne’s capital, at 300 km/h.

Berlin → Warsaw · 570 km · 5 h 25 min

PKP Intercity & DB · EuroCity (EU44 Husarz)

Six EuroCitys a day across the North European Plain, with the cult WARS dining car serving pierogi between the Oder and the Vistula.

Munich → Verona · 442 km · ≈ 5 h 20 min

ÖBB · DB · ÖBB Railjet (EuroCity)

Munich to Verona over the first railway across the main Alpine crest (1867), still topping the open pass at 1,371 m: no summit tunnel, just a border station.

Munich → Lindau · 220 km · 2 h 15 min

DB · ÖBB · ÖBB Railjet · EC

Electrified in 2020 to speed the Munich–Zürich EuroCitys across the Allgäu past baroque abbeys and Alpine foothills to the island station of Lindau on Lake Constance.

Züssow → Świnoujście · 66 km · ≈ 1 h 50 min

UBB · Stadler GTW railcar

The imperial spa line: along Usedom’s beaches from Züssow over the Peene bridge to Ahlbeck’s pier, then across the border into Świnoujście.

Munich → Innsbruck · 172 km · ≈ 1 h 45 min

ÖBB · DB · Railjet · EuroCity

The Brenner corridor’s northern approach: out of Munich, across the Inn at Rosenheim, into Tyrol at Kufstein and up the valley beneath the Karwendel wall.

Innsbruck → Salzburg · 190 km · ≈ 1 h 50 min

ÖBB · ÖBB railjet

Tyrol to Salzburg the fast way, through Bavaria: Austrian expresses cut the German corner nonstop via Rosenheim, Alps on the horizon the whole run.

Hamburg → Cologne · 425 km · ≈ 3 h 45 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB IC · ICE

Germany’s busiest conventional corridor: ports to Ruhr through Bremen, Münster and five more big cities. Twice an hour, and no high-speed line in sight.

Munich → Prague · 430 km · ≈ 5 h 50 min

Die Länderbahn · ČD · alex RE 25

The only direct Munich–Prague train: a famously unhurried crossing of the Bavarian Forest and Bohemia while the corridor awaits its wires.

Frankfurt → Kassel · 199 km · ≈ 2 h 16 min

DB Regio · RE 30 · Main-Weser-Express

One of Germany’s first trunk railways, opened in stages between 1849 and 1852 through Gießen and Marburg; its 160 km/h ceiling is only reachable on the southern half.

Halle → Halberstadt · 92 km · ≈ 1 h 11 min

Start Mitteldeutschland · RE 4 · Regional-Express

The Halle end of the line that reached Vienenburg in 1872, ninety two kilometres by Könnern, Sandersleben and Aschersleben to Halberstadt on the northern edge of the Harz.

Krefeld → Kleve · 66 km · ≈ 59 min

RheinRuhrBahn · RE 10 · Niers-Express

The Rhine’s quiet left bank to the Dutch border: Kempen, Geldern, the pilgrim town of Kevelaer and Goch, on rails that reached Kleve on 1 March 1863.

Dresden → Görlitz · 105 km · ≈ 1 h 25 min

Die Länderbahn · RE 1 · trilex

Saxony end to end through Bautzen and the Lusatian hills, opened in stages from November 1845 and formally complete on 1 September 1847.

Gotha → Leinefelde · 67 km · ≈ 42 min

DB Regio · RE 1

Forty two minutes across the Thuringian Basin through Bad Langensalza and Mühlhausen, opened in 1870 and now rebuilt for 160 km/h.

Oldenburg → Osnabrück · 108 km · ≈ 1 h 29 min

NordWestBahn · RE 18 · Regional-Express

Across the Oldenburg moors and the Artland by Cloppenburg and Quakenbrück; opened as far as Quakenbrück in October 1875 and through to Osnabrück on 15 November 1876.

Jena → Saalfeld · 47 km · ≈ 42 min

Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland · RB 25

Forty two minutes up the Saale gorge from Jena by Kahla, Orlamünde and Rudolstadt, on a line opened through to Saalfeld on 30 April 1874.

Wetzlar → Koblenz · 103 km · ≈ 1 h 34 min

DB Regio · RE 25

The Lahn from Wetzlar down to the Rhine through Weilburg, Limburg, Nassau and the spa at Bad Ems; opened in three pieces and finished on 10 January 1863.

Crailsheim → Heilbronn · 88 km · ≈ 1 h 14 min

Westfrankenbahn · RE 80

Up the Kocher from Heilbronn through Schwäbisch Hall to Crailsheim; the first half opened in August 1862 and the rest waited until 10 December 1867.

Hochstadt-Marktzeuln → Probstzella · 54 km · ≈ 45 min

DB Regio · RE 14

The climb over the Frankenwald from the Main valley to the Thuringian border at Probstzella by Kronach and Ludwigsstadt, finished in October 1885 and steep enough to need banking engines.

Delmenhorst → Hesepe · 88 km · ≈ 1 h 36 min

NordWestBahn · RB 58

The Oldenburg south line through Vechta and Lohne, built in four pieces between 1888 and 1 May 1900, and still eighty kilometres an hour the whole way.

Stralsund → Berlin · 237 km · ≈ 3 h 00 min

DB Fernverkehr · ICE

One of the oldest railways in Western Pomerania, built from 1863 by the Berlin-Stettin company and now the fast run down from Stralsund to Berlin.

Ulm → Immendingen · 142 km · ≈ 2 h 10 min

DB Regio · RE 55 · Regional-Express

Threads the young Danube from Ulm through Blaubeuren and Riedlingen to Sigmaringen, single-tracked and largely unelectrified, and once part of the Munich–Freiburg main line.

Treuchtlingen → Würzburg · 139 km · ≈ 1 h 54 min

Arverio Bayern · RE 80 · Regional-Express

Opened in three sections from 1859 and one of Germany's oldest main lines, running through Franconia via Ansbach and Ochsenfurt into Würzburg.

Stendal → Uelzen · 107 km · ≈ 1 h 11 min

DB Regio · RE 20 · Regional-Express

Mostly single track yet electrified and main-line rated, crossing the Altmark from Stendal to Uelzen with Salzwedel the one town of any size on the way.

Heidelberg → Frankfurt · 84 km · ≈ 1 h 21 min

DB Regio · RB 68 · Regionalbahn

Opened in 1846 down the Upper Rhine plain west of the Odenwald, one of Germany's oldest railways and still the local road from Frankfurt through Darmstadt and Bensheim to Heidelberg.

Trier → Saarbrücken · 81 km · ≈ 1 h 30 min

DB Regio · RB 71 · Regionalbahn

The Saarstrecke of 1858–60 follows the Saar from Trier up to Saarbrücken, one of the oldest railways in Germany and still the valley's stopping service.

Regensburg → Ingolstadt · 73 km · ≈ 1 h

agilis · RB 17 · Regionalbahn

Single track but electrified up the Danube valley from Regensburg to Ingolstadt. With the Ingolstadt–Neuoffingen line, it forms the Bavarian Donautalbahn.

Stralsund → Rostock · 72 km · ≈ 52 min

DB Fernverkehr · ICE

Joins the two Hanseatic cities of the Baltic coast: single track, electrified, and rebuilt as German Unity transport project no. 1.

Nördlingen → Augsburg · 70 km · ≈ 1 h 03 min

Arverio Bayern · RE 89 · Regional-Express

Part of the Ludwig South-North Railway of 1844: fast electrified track from Augsburg to Donauwörth, then the branch on to the walled crater town of Nördlingen.

Lindau → Bludenz · 67 km · ≈ 1 h 12 min

ÖBB · S-Bahn Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg end to end: from Lindau on Lake Constance up the Rhine valley and the Walgau to Bludenz, where the Arlberg and Montafon lines begin.

Mönchengladbach → Aachen · 62 km · ≈ 50 min

National Express · RE 4 · Regional-Express

Built by the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort company between 1852 and 1854: one of Germany's oldest lines, and still the freight road from the Ruhr to Belgium.

Mannheim → Saarbrücken · 129 km · ≈ 1 h 23 min

DB Fernverkehr · ICE

The Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn of 1847, the Palatinate's main artery through Neustadt, Kaiserslautern and Homburg, and today part of the Paris–Frankfurt run.

Simbach am Inn → Munich · 113 km · ≈ 1 h 30 min

DB · EuroCity

Opened on 1 May 1871 east from Munich through Markt Schwaben and Dorfen to Mühldorf and the Inn at Simbach: one of Germany's identified capacity bottlenecks.

Freilassing → Mühldorf · 65 km · ≈ 58 min

Südostbayernbahn · RB 45 · Regionalbahn

The south-east Bavarian cross-link of 1908, from the Salzburg border at Freilassing over the Alz and Salzach country to Mühldorf.

Magdeburg → Wittenberge · 112 km · ≈ 1 h 21 min

DB Fernverkehr · InterCity

Double track and electrified across the Altmark, opened in 1849 by the Magdeburg-Wittenberge company and among the oldest railways in Germany.

Lübeck → Kiel · 80 km · ≈ 1 h 13 min

erixx · RE 83 · Regional-Express

Mostly single track and still without wires, joining the only two cities in Schleswig-Holstein with more than 100,000 people.

Rostock → Bad Kleinen · 71 km · ≈ 52 min

DB Regio · RE 1 · Regional-Express

Opened in 1850 by the Mecklenburg Railway Company and now part of the electrified main line that carries Berlin and Hamburg trains to the Baltic at Rostock.

Augsburg → Ingolstadt · 62 km · ≈ 1 h 00 min

Bayerische Regiobahn · RB 13 · Regionalbahn

The Paartalbahn: 63 km of single unelectrified main line from Augsburg through Friedberg, Aichach and Schrobenhausen to Ingolstadt.

Neumarkt-Sankt Veit → Landshut · 38 km · ≈ 42 min

Südostbayernbahn · RB 45 · Regionalbahn

Single track and unelectrified down the Vils valley from Neumarkt-Sankt Veit to the Isar at Landshut, open since 1883.

Buchholz → Hannover · 133 km · ≈ 1 h 58 min

Start Niedersachsen-Mitte · RB 38 · Regionalbahn

The Heidebahn crosses the Lüneburg Heath from Hanover to Buchholz: single track, no wires, and one of only two railways of any weight on the heath.

Lüneburg → Lübeck · 78 km · ≈ 1 h 10 min

erixx · RE 83 · Regional-Express

Single track, unelectrified, opened in sections between 1851 and 1864: one of Germany's oldest railways, from the Elbe salt town to the Baltic.

Horb → Stuttgart · 61 km · ≈ 58 min

DB Fernverkehr · IC 87 · InterCity

The Stuttgart end of the Gäubahn, built by the Württemberg and Baden state railways and still the through road toward Zurich.

Bad Sankt Peter-Ording → Husum · 43 km · ≈ 56 min

Nordbahn · RB 64 · Regionalbahn

Out along the Eiderstedt peninsula through Tönning and Garding to the North Sea beach at Sankt Peter-Ording, on track laid in 1854.

Münster → Rheine · 39 km · ≈ 30 min

National Express · RE 7 · Regional-Express

Double track and electrified across the Münsterland, opened by the Royal Westphalian Railway Company in 1856.

Treuchtlingen → Donauwörth · 34 km · ≈ 25 min

Arverio Bayern · RE 80 · Regional-Express

Double track over the Franconian Jura, part of the trans-European core network and of the Munich–Augsburg–Nuremberg main road.

Neckarelz → Osterburken · 31 km · ≈ 38 min

DB Regio · S 1

Opened in 1866 as part of the Baden Odenwald Railway from Heidelberg to Würzburg, now double track and electrified along the edge of the Odenwald.

Tessin → Rostock · 27 km · ≈ 30 min

DB Regio · RB 11 · Regionalbahn

What is left of the 1895 branch east of Rostock: trains still run to Tessin, while the track on to Tribsees has been lifted.

Weetzen → Haste · 25 km · ≈ 32 min

S-Bahn Hannover · S 2

The Deisterbahn of 1872 skirts the wooded Deister ridge west of Hanover, now worked as a link in the city's S-Bahn.

Burghausen → Tüßling · 25 km · ≈ 28 min

Südostbayernbahn · RB 42 · Regionalbahn

A short Bavarian branch to the Salzach and the longest castle complex in the world at Burghausen.

Zurich → Munich · 332 km · 3 h 44 min

SBB · DB · SBB Astoro ETR 610

Electrified through in 2020, which cut an hour off the run: out of Zurich by Winterthur and St Gallen, over the Rhine at St Margrethen, along Lake Constance through Bregenz and Lindau, then the Allgäu to Munich.

Cologne → Norddeich · 376 km · ≈ 4 h 32 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB Intercity

DB’s seaside Intercity: down the Rhine-Ruhr, through Münster and the Emsland flats to the North Sea pier at Norddeich Mole.

Frankfurt → Dresden · 492 km · ≈ 4 h 24 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB ICE T

The Saxony ICE: Fulda’s wooded hills, Luther’s Eisenach and Erfurt, the 2015 high-speed line into Leipzig, then the Elbe plain to Dresden.

Karlsruhe → Nuremberg · 295 km · ≈ 3 h 10 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB Intercity

The cross-country IC via the 1861 Remsbahn: Stuttgart, the Rems valley vineyards, then Aalen and Crailsheim’s hills to Nuremberg.

Braunschweig → Uelzen · 97 km · ≈ 1 h 46 min

erixx · erixx RB47

The emigrants’ road: Braunschweig via Gifhorn to Uelzen, on to the America ships at Bremen and Hamburg; single track since the war, never wired, famously Germany’s most delayed line.

Hamburg → Binz · 332 km · ≈ 3 h 45 min

DB Fernverkehr · ICE T

The Rügen through train: out of Hamburg past Schwerin and Rostock to Stralsund, over the Rügendamm and on to the chalk coast at Binz.

Dortmund → Oberstdorf · 717 km · ≈ 8 h 25 min

DB Fernverkehr · ICE L

The Ruhr to the Allgäu in one train: Dortmund, the Rhine gorge past the Lorelei, Mannheim and Ulm, then up the Iller valley to Oberstdorf under the Alps.

Gera → Düsseldorf · 532 km · ≈ 6 h 05 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB IC coaches

East Thuringia to the Rhine: Gera and Jena, Erfurt and Eisenach under the Wartburg, then Kassel, the Ruhr and Düsseldorf.

Leipzig → Norddeich Mole · 547 km · ≈ 6 h 40 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB IC coaches

Saxony to the North Sea ferry pier: Leipzig, Magdeburg and Hannover, then Bremen and the East Frisian flats to the quayside at Norddeich Mole.

Leipzig → Warnemünde · 416 km · ≈ 4 h 32 min

DB Fernverkehr · DB IC coaches

Leipzig to the Baltic beach: Halle and Magdeburg, the Stendal cut-off and Schwerin, then Rostock and out to the pier at Warnemünde.

Berlin → Przemyśl · 864 km · ≈ 11 h

DB · PKP Intercity · PKP Intercity coaches

The EuroCity across Poland: Berlin and the Oder, Wrocław and Opole, the Silesian cities and Kraków, then on east to Przemyśl at the Ukrainian border.

Dresden → Hof · 222 km · 2 h 49 min

Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn · RE 3

Saxony corner to corner: out of Dresden up the Tharandt ramp, then Freiberg, Chemnitz, Zwickau and the Vogtland to Hof, on a chain of lines the Freiberg link joined up in 1869.

Chemnitz → Leipzig · 80 km · 1 h 2 min

Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn · RE 6

An hour between Saxony’s two biggest cities, Chemnitz to Leipzig by way of Geithain and Borna, on a line opened in April 1872.

Chemnitz → Elsterwerda · 89 km · 1 h 30 min

Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn · RB 45

North out of Chemnitz down the Zschopau valley to Döbeln and Riesa on the Elbe, then on to Elsterwerda, joining a railway of 1852 to one of 1875.

Zwickau → Kraslice · 73 km · 1 h 45 min

Vogtlandbahn · RB 1

Out of the Zwickau coalfield into the Vogtland hills and over the Czech border above Klingenthal to Kraslice, on rails a coal railway company opened in November 1875.

Gammertingen → Schelklingen · 62 km · 1 h 55 min

Schwäbische Alb-Bahn · RB 59

Across the Swabian Alb at sixty kilometres an hour: Gammertingen to Engstingen and Münsingen, then down to Schelklingen and the Danube, on branch lines opened in 1901.

Liberec → Dresden · 131 km · 2 h 4 min

Die Länderbahn · RE 2 trilex

Bohemia into Saxony on the Lusatian branches: Liberec down the Neisse to Zittau, then Ebersbach and Bischofswerda, on a chain the Oberoderwitz link completed in October 1879.

Simbach am Inn → Neumarkt-Kallham · 60 km · 1 h 1 min

ÖBB · R 51

Neumarkt-Kallham to Braunau opened on 20 December 1870 and the bridge over the Inn to Simbach on 1 June 1871; from 1883 to 1897 the Orient Express took this way between Vienna and Munich.

Ulzburg Süd → Elmshorn · 27 km · 37 min

AKN · A3

Elmshorn to Barmstedt opened as a light railway on 15 July 1896; the Barmstedt to Oldesloe company carried it on to Ulzburg on 9 June 1907, and the AKN has run it since 1981.

Forst (Lausitz) → Wrocław · 189 km · 2 h 59 min

Koleje Dolnośląskie · D25 Sprinter

Most of the old Breslau–Berlin trunk, in its 1875 alignment through Żagań: a single Lower Silesian sprinter crosses the Nysa at Zasieki and runs 189 km to Wrocław.

Leipzig → Wrocław · 352 km · 3 h 35 min

DB Fernverkehr · PKP Intercity · EC 133

Named for the medieval road it shadows: the EuroCity takes the Oberlausitz company’s line of 1874 and crosses at Horka, a border that carried no scheduled passenger trains for decades.

Erfurt → Würzburg · 199 km · 2 h 20 min

DB Regio · RE 7

From Erfurt over the Thuringian Forest through the 3 km Brandleite tunnel under the Rennsteig, down by Suhl and Grimmenthal into Franconia and on by Schweinfurt to Würzburg; the climb and the tunnel opened in 1884.

Saarbrücken → Frankfurt · 205 km · 3 h

vlexx · RE 3

From Saarbrücken by Neunkirchen and St. Wendel down the Nahe valley past Idar-Oberstein and Kirn to Bad Kreuznach, then along the Rhine to Mainz and over to Frankfurt; the Nahe valley railway was complete in 1860.

Cuxhaven → Hamburg · 115 km · 1 h 47 min

start Unterelbe · RE 5

Along the lower Elbe from the North Sea port of Cuxhaven by Otterndorf, Stade and Buxtehude to Harburg and over the river into Hamburg; the railway reached Cuxhaven in 1881.

Dortmund → Warburg · 152 km · 2 h 26 min

DB Regio NRW · RE 57 · Regional-Express

From Dortmund up the Ruhr into the Sauerland by Arnsberg, Meschede and Bestwig, over the hills at Brilon Wald and down to Warburg; the last section opened on 6 January 1873.

Cologne → Lüdenscheid · 96 km · 2 h 2 min

DB Regio NRW · RB 25 · Regionalbahn

Cologne into the Bergisches Land through the Hoffnungsthal tunnel of 1910 and up the Agger valley to Gummersbach and Marienheide; trains came back to Meinerzhagen in late 2013 and to Lüdenscheid in 2017.

Zurich → Vienna · 811 km · 9 h 00 min

ÖBB · SBB · ÖBB Railjet

Eight hours Zurich to Vienna on Austria’s only east–west mountain mainline: the Trisanna gorge, Wiesberg Castle and a 1,310 m summit in the 10.2 km Arlberg tunnel.

Oberbarmen → Vohwinkel · 13 km · 30 min

WSW mobil · Generation 15 suspended electric units

The world’s oldest electric suspension railway, hanging from a steel frame above the Wupper river since 1901, a monorail that never stopped commuting.

Munich → Innsbruck · 165 km · 2 h 55 min

ÖBB · DB · ÖBB 4024 · DB 442

Munich to the Tyrol over the Karwendel: the electrified 1912 Mittenwaldbahn climbs from Garmisch through Alpine meadows and horseshoe curves to the Seefeld saddle before dropping into Innsbruck.

Nordhausen → Drei Annen Hohne · 46 km · 2 h

Harzer Schmalspurbahnen · Class 99 2-10-2T steam

HSB’s metre-gauge trunk across the Harz: 2-10-2 tank engines storm out of Nordhausen up the Zorge valley to Drei Annen Hohne, the junction where the Brocken steam begins.

Borkum Reede → Borkum · 7.4 km · 15 min

Borkumer Kleinbahn (AG EMS) · Island diesel · 900 mm

Timed to the tide: Borkum’s 900 mm railway (1888) meets every ferry at the Reede pier and rolls 7 km along the dike into the North Sea island’s town.

Wangerooge Westanleger → Wangerooge · 3.4 km · 20 min

DB Fernverkehr · Island diesel · 1000 mm

Deutsche Bahn’s only narrow gauge: the tide writes the timetable as diesels haul ferry passengers across the salt marsh from Westanleger pier to car-free Wangerooge village.

Kochel → Tutzing · 35 km · ≈ 41 min

DB Regio · RB 66 · Regionalbahn

Bavarian lakes branch of 1865: from Tutzing on the Starnberger See south to the Kochelsee under the first peaks of the Alps.

Mering → Weilheim · 54 km · ≈ 59 min

Bayerische Regiobahn · RB 67 · Regionalbahn

The Ammerseebahn, single track from Mering near Augsburg past Geltendorf and the Ammersee to Weilheim under the Bavarian Alps.

Bielefeld → Osnabrück · 53 km · ≈ 1 h 21 min

NordWestBahn · RB 75 · Regionalbahn

The Haller Willem climbs the Teutoburg Forest on a gradient built in 1886; the tunnel that would have eased it was left out to save money.

Lauterecken → Kaiserslautern · 33 km · ≈ 51 min

DB Regio · RB 66 · Regionalbahn

The Lautertalbahn follows its river out of Kaiserslautern to Lauterecken, a branch the Bundesbahn planned to close in the 1980s and never did.

Marktoberdorf → Füssen · 30 km · ≈ 44 min

Bayerische Regiobahn · RB 77 · Regionalbahn

The Allgäu branch to Füssen, opened by a private local railway in 1889 and now the train that delivers visitors below Neuschwanstein.

Munich → Bayrischzell · 77 km · 1 h 23 min

Bayerische Regiobahn · RB 55

The Bayerische Regiobahn from Munich by Holzkirchen to the shore of the Schliersee and up the Leitzach valley under the Wendelstein to Bayrischzell; the last stretch, from Fischbachau, opened on 1 October 1911.

Haltingen → Kandern · 13 km · ≈ 36 min

Kandertalbahn e.V. · Steam Lok 7 · V7 diesel locomotive

Sunday steam up the Kandertal from the Rhine plain at Haltingen to Kandern, the 1895 branch kept running by the society that saved it.