German railway station categories

About 5,400 railway stations in Germany that are owned and operated by the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Station&Service are assigned into seven categories, denoting the service level available at the station.

Their assignment into the categories also influences the amount of money railway companies need to pay to DB Station&Service for using the facilities at the stations.

The 21 stations of Category 1 are considered traffic hubs. They are permanently staffed and carry all sorts of railway-related facilities as well as usually featuring a shopping mall in the station. Most of these stations are the central (commonly referred to as main) stations (Hauptbahnhof or Hbf) of large cities with 500,000 inhabitants and above, though some in smaller cities, like Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof, are regarded as important because they are at the intersection of important railway lines. Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, the four biggest cities in Germany, have more than one Category 1 station. Included in the category are the following stations:

Most of the about 87 stations of Category 2 are either important junctions of long-distance traffic or offer connections to large airports. InterCity and EuroCity trains generally call at these stations. All railway-related services, like a ticket hall and a service desk, are present at the station and the station is staffed during the usual times of traffic. The service is similar to Category 1 stations. The Category 2 stations, by state, are:

239 stations belong to Category 3. These stations will usually feature a station hall where travellers can buy tickets and groceries, but these stations are usually not permanently staffed. They are often main stations of cities with about 50,000 inhabitants.

Examples are Görlitz station, Reutlingen, Lichtenfels, Passau Hbf or Mülheim (Ruhr) Hbf.

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