Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (short Frankfurt (Main) Hbf, in English Frankfurt Main Station, in former times Frankfurt Central Station) is the busiest train station in the German state of Hesse and the second most busiest train station in Germany behind Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Due to its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long and short distance travelling, Deutsche Bahn refers to it as the most important station in Germany.
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 ("through train"), and express train services were often given numbers preceded by the letter D. The similar term, snälltåg, was used in Sweden until January 1980.
On the railway networks operated by the Deutsche Bahn (DB), the Austrian Federal Railway (ÖBB) and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) today, express trains are divided into categories such as Eurocity, Intercity, Interregio etc. The DB still occasionally runs D-Zug services in night trains (D-Nacht), especially those to its eastern European neighbours, and as relief trains. Museum services running on DB routes are also given D-Zug numbers. ÖBB runs D-Züge on main routes from/to Vienna on weekends and during rush hours.
A multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled train has all of the carriages unpowered.
An implication of this is that all the powered carriages needs to be controllable by a single engineer or driver, which is a case of the broader concept of multiple-unit train control. In other words, all "multiple units" employ some variation of multiple-unit train control. In the broader context "unit" means any powered rail vehicle, including locomotives (that does not carry cargo) and powered cargo-carrying carriages. In the context of this article, "unit" refers specifically to the latter only (whether the cargo is passengers or some other cargo).
Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by Deutsche Bahn (DB, lit. 'German Railway'). As of 2021, the railway network in Germany (DB only) had a length of 33,399 km (20,753 mi), of which 20,540 km (12,760 mi) were electrified and 18,556 km (11,530 mi) were double track. About 1,658 km (1,030 mi) are high-speed railway lines. Germany has the 6th longest railway network in the world, and the largest in Europe after Russia.
Germany was ranked 4th among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety. It had a very good rating for intensity of use, by both passengers and freight, and good ratings for quality of service and safety. It also captured relatively high value in return for public investment with cost to performance ratios that outperform the average ratio for all European countries.
Pedelec (from pedal electric cycle), or EPAC (electrically power-assisted cycle), or EAPC, is the term for electric bicycles or e-bikes where the electric motor is controlled by the rider's pedalling. In many countries this term describes the majority or all electric bicycles legally in use, but is not itself a legal description and as such seldom used. Many jurisdictions classify pedelec-type bicycles almost the same as unmotorized bicycles, with few or no legal restrictions, rather than as mopeds, where the riders are subject to the regulations of such motor vehicles, e.g. having a license, a vehicle registration, insurance, wearing a helmet, or age-restrictions.
Szczecin Główny (Polish for Szczecin main station) is the principal railway station of the city of Szczecin, in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. The station opened on 15 August 1843 and is located on the Berlin-Szczecin railway, Wrocław–Szczecin railway, Poznań–Szczecin railway, Bützow-Szczecin railway and Szczecin-Trzebież Szczeciński railway. The train services are operated by PKP Intercity, Polregio and Deutsche Bahn.
Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE (German pronunciation: [iːtseːˈʔeː] ) and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system and service 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 300 km/h (190 mph) within Germany and 320 km/h (200 mph) when in France, they are aimed at business travellers and long-distance commuters and marketed by Deutsche Bahn as an alternative to flights.
The ICE 3 also has been the development base for the Siemens Velaro family of trainsets which has subsequently been exported to Renfe in Spain (Renfe Class 103), which are certified to run at speeds up to 350 km/h (220 mph), as well as versions ordered by China for the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway link (CRH 3) and by Russia for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod routes (Velaro RUS) with further customers being Eurostar as well as Turkey and Egypt.
Schaffhausen railway station (German: Bahnhof Schaffhausen) is a railway station in Schaffhausen, the capital of the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen. The station is jointly owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) and Deutsche Bahn (DB), and is served by trains of both national operators, as well as trains of the Swiss regional operator Thurbo.
The station is a major intermediate station on the DB's High Rhine Railway that briefly transits Swiss territory on its route along the northern bank of the High Rhine between Basel and Singen. The station is also linked to the rest of Switzerland by the Rheinfall line to Zürich via Winterthur, the Eglisau to Neuhausen line that crosses German territory (some trains call at Jestetten and Lottstetten in Germany) to reach Eglisau and Zürich, and the Lake line to Rorschach via Stein am Rhein.
The Rhine-Main S-Bahn system is an integrated rapid transit and commuter train system for the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region, which includes the cities Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Darmstadt. The network comprises nine S-Bahn lines, eight of which currently travel through the cornerstone of the system, a tunnel (the "City Tunnel") through central Frankfurt. The first section of this tunnel was opened on May 28, 1978. Further tunnel sections were opened in 1983 and 1990, before its completion in 1992. The system belongs to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) and is operated by DB Regio, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.
End-to-end journey times on the nine lines in the system range from 36 minutes (on line S7) up to 87 minutes (on line S1). The longest journey time into central Frankfurt (Hauptwache), from any point on the network, is 54 minutes. Services on some lines start shortly after 4 a.m., while all lines have services from about 5 a.m. onwards. A full service is maintained from 6 a.m. until about 8 p.m., and a somewhat reduced service is run until the late evening. The last services leave Frankfurt at 2:12 a.m. The S8/S9 runs 24/7.