Die bahn (db) Your partner for travelling by train in Germany

Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG), the German rail company, currently has a track network of ground 36,000 km. Each day in Germany, over 30,000 trains are on the move (including 1,500 long-distance trains), transporting more than four million pas­sengers. This extensive iail network covers most of the country, enabling passengers to travel in comfort and reach their desti­nation on time. Long-distance trains are coordinated with lo­cal services and offer excellent connections. Many of Germa­ny’s airports are also integrated into this system, including Frankfurt airport, where the AIRail terminal provides direct access between the ICE and IC/EC trains and flights.

Germany’s ICE (Intercity Express) trains are setting new standards in high-speed services between Germany’s major cities and selected destinations in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria, with their state-of-the-art comfort, service and inno­vative technical design. All carriages, whether open-plan or with compartments, are air-conditioned and equipped with coat racks, luggage lockers and mobile phone repeaters for optimum reception. Meals or snacks can be enjoyed on board either in the BordBistro restaurant car or from a trolley service.

The Frankfurt-Cologne route is serviced by 54 state-of-the- art ICE-3 trains. Running every 20 minutes, they travel at speeds of up to 300 km/h, completing the journey in just 76 minutes. And it’s not just Germans who benefit from the Cologne-Rhine/ Main high-speed rail link, although two thirds of internal rail traffic uses this route. Many of the international connections also pass this way, carrying millions of passengers, particularly on the central north-south axis from Amsterdam to Switzerland and onwards to Italy.

Up to 200 InterCity (1C) trains a day provide connections between some 80 stations, running once an hour or once every two hours. EuroCity (EC) trains carry passengers into neigh­bouring European countries, and both services also feature such comforts as air-conditioned open-plan or compartment carriag­es and a BordBistro restaurant car.

The DB night train sets the standards in terms of technical design, luxury and service for overnight travel. DB night trains operate more than 1,800 services within Germany and on se­lected routes to other countries, using state-of-the-art carriag­es. Every DB night train has modem, air-conditioned and par­ticularly quiet sleeping cars and couchettes. For budget travellers, the DB night train with modem seating cars, some of which have reclining seats, is a good-value alternative.

Night trains with double-decker carriages, couchette cars and seating cars running between Switzerland, Austria and Germa­ny are operated by CityNightLine (CNL) AG, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.

Rail travellers from abroad can choose from a variety of cus­tomised packages for rail travel in and to Germany.

Offers for visitors from other european countries

• EuroDomino

With a EuroDomino pass (I^s* or 2^nd class), passengers enjoy unlimited travel across the Deutsche Bahn network on between three and eight days within any one month. It also gives a 25 % reduction on the price of domestic travel from home to the Ger­man border and on trains used in other countries in transit. There is a 2^nd class EuroDomino pass for young people.