The Country
Germany is an excellent country to get around; especially by train! There are so many border crossing entry points by train; of course the alternative option is to fly.
Being able to speak a little German always helps but I found most people spoke some, if only a little English.
Train Travel
Deutsche Bahn (DB) operate the national rail service, throughout Germany; also offering many cross border trains into neighbouring countries. Deutsche Bahn timetables in PDF format are available. Alternatively the DB website can be used to plan your trip online.
There are also open access operators offering regional services, completely exempt from DB, such as:
Metronom – offering regional trains in Hamburg, Hannover & Bremen; Metronom timetables are downloadable in PDF format
Alex – offering regional trains from Munich to Lindau/Oberstdorf & Prague; Alex timetables are available from their website; including any updates for engineering work
A comprehensive list of both passenger and freight operators in Germany can be found on the helpful Railfan Europe websites’ Germany page.
Train times and Tickets
Booking train tickets both within or cross border into Germany (on DB operated trains) can be done on the Deutsche Bahn website, or if you only require reservations for either Interrail, Eurail or railway staff passes then this can be done via phone to the DB office in London.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) offer many different ticket options for unlimited travel in certain areas of the country and also countrywide passes; all having different lengths of validity, some of which are restricted to non-IC trains only. Details of all can be found on the DB Websites’ “offers” and German Railpass sections.
If choosing to use an Interrail pass, either for just within Germany, or to pass through Germany, all the relevant details on the passes, including the different types/lengths of validity available, can be found on the InterRail website.
For those travelling from outside Europe then the Eurail Pass is your ticket to Europe, details of which can be found on EU Rails’ website.
Finally travel in Europe can be made a lot simpler by using the very, very, helpful smartphone app courtesy of Eurail. This app is available both online and offline and is always up to date (well it has been for the countries I’ve used it in; including for any planned engineering works); for me it was an essential part of my travel in Europe. This app is linked to the Hafas system, which countries like Germany, Austria & Switzerland use for their train planning online tool. Eurail has done what the individual countries haven’t though and made it available offline.
For the Rail Enthusiast
A comprehensive list of German Locomotives by their respective railway system can be found on the Railfaneurope website’s Germany page. This also explains a bit the various operators of the network and how they have amalgamated over the years.
Regional maps of the German Rail System is available on the Deutsche Bahn Website. For those wanting a more comprehensive and detailed map/atlas one is available from Schweers & Wall; also listing the distances within.
An excellent source of information on both ongoing topics within the world of German Railways and current locomotive workings is the Drehscheibe Forum (translated as Turntable Forum). Postings in the Community section under “lokvorschau” list the following days’ loco workings, not a comprehensive list but it does list the older locos, which are the most important of course.
I’d planned this trip to coincide with the planned charter that was expected to be an SBB Re6/6 from Luino to Schaffhausen, which would also have linked in nicely with the BLS Heritage Extrazug that was running Burgdorf – Brig – Burgdorf on the same day. As luck didn’t have it, for the second time Read the Rest…
As has been the case for the previous two years, we were both off at Christmas again this year and so made plans to head out of the UK for it. With there being a rerun, albeit with a difference, of the MAV Nostalgia Christmas Nohab outing from Kelenfold to Tapolca, we tied our plans in with Read the Rest…
Having enjoyed my day out travelling on the Goppenstein – Kandersteg car transporter trains in the summer of 2014 I decided that another day of riding a bike about on car trains was something I’d fancy doing so when in Switzerland early in 2015 I picked up a BLS leaflet, with the car train gen Read the Rest…
When planning this trip in my head the only way I wanted to enter Scandinavia was by the train ferry from Berlin to Malmo yet strangely the window of opportunity is quite limited as the Snälltåget train only runs from late June until the first week in August! Once in Sweden there wasn’t really anything Read the Rest…
With a big trip to Scandinavia coming up, starting in Berlin, what better way to get there than by flying out to Poland having a day in Warsaw, where I’d never been, then overnight to Bratislava for a day there then overnight to Dresden for half a day there before meeting my wife in Berlin; Read the Rest…
This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link: Multi Trip Switzerland – Slovenia – Croatia – Hungary – Germany August 2014 This trip was a week specifically to do Slovenia & Hungary: Having been bowled for doing Slovenia earlier in the year when the storms hit Read the Rest…
This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link: Multi Trip Germany – Croatia – Hungary – Switzerland – Germany May 2014 This trip was a week roaming Europe: Germany – Croatia – Hungary – Switzerland – Germany Originally this trip was to include Slovenia but due Read the Rest…
This is an extract from a multi-country report to read the full report use the following link: Multi Trip Germany – Croatia – Hungary – Switzerland – Germany May 2014 This trip was a week roaming Europe: Germany – Croatia – Hungary – Switzerland – Germany Originally this trip was to include Slovenia but due Read the Rest…
This trip had been one of those last minute, yet not so last minute plans. It was shoehorned in as a weekend away in Germany; literally days after I’d just booked a normal trip to Austria. This turned out to be a bit of a bonus in the end as it meant I could save Read the Rest…
As has been the case for the previous two years, we were both off at Christmas again this year and so made plans to head out of the UK for it. With there being a rerun, albeit with a difference, of the MAV Nostalgia Christmas Nohab outing from Kelenfold to Tapolca, we tied our plans in with Read the Rest…
When planning this trip in my head the only way I wanted to enter Scandinavia was by the train ferry from Berlin to Malmo yet strangely the window of opportunity is quite limited as the Snälltåget train only runs from late June until the first week in August! Once in Sweden there wasn’t really anything Read the Rest…
During early September I had a mad dash round Germany; all by train of course. The following are a few pictures take on my travels, my favourite of which has to be the sunrise at Piene (near Hannover), although the “Graffiti is Gay” nicely in full view of everyone that passes through Hamburg HB has Read the Rest…