Rail transport in Germany

Germany
An ICE 3 at St. Ingbert
Operation
National railway	Deutsche Bahn
Statistics
Ridership	2.01 billion (2015, Deutsche Bahn only)
Passenger km	79.3 billion (2015, Deutsche Bahn only)
Freight	75 billion tkm (2015, Deutsche Bahn only)
System length
Total	41,315 kilometres (25,672 mi)
Double track	18,201 kilometres (11,310 mi)
Electrified	19,857 kilometres (12,339 mi)
Track gauge
Main	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification
15 kV 16 2/3 Hz	Main network
Map Map of the railway network in Germany;   lines with InterCityExpress traffic   lines with InterCity/EuroCity traffic   lines with other passenger traffic

Map
Map of the railway network in Germany;   lines with InterCityExpress traffic   lines with InterCity/EuroCity traffic   lines with other passenger traffic

As of 2015^[update], Germany had a railway network of 33,331 km of which 19,983 km were electrified and 18,201 km were double track. Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.

There are around 23,500 powered rail vehicles in Germany, operated by the main operator Deutsche Bahn as well as around 1,500 smaller private railway companies:

In 2006, railways in Germany carried around 119,968,000 passengers on long-distance trains (at an average distance of 288 km), and 2,091,828,000 passengers on short-distance trains (21 km on average). In the same year they carried 346,118,000 tonnes of goods at an average distance of 309 km.

Deutsche Bahn (state-owned private company) is the main provider of railway service. In recent years a number of competitors have started business. They mostly offer state-subsidized regional services, but some, like Veolia Verkehr offer long-distance services as well.

InterRegio services, introduced in 1988 to replace the former Schnellzug and Intercity, were abolished in 2003. Deutsche Bahn is gradually increasing the percentage of InterCityExpress services, and downgrading the remaining InterCity services to the role formerly played by InterRegio.

German Railway history began with the opening of the steam-hauled Bavarian Ludwig Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth on 7 December 1835. The first long distance railway was the Leipzig-Dresden railway, completed on 7 April 1839. The following years saw a rapid growth: By the year 1845, there were already more than 2,000 km of railroads in Germany, ten years later that number was above 8,000.

German unification in 1871 stimulated consolidation, nationalization into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialization, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts, and provided good connections to the major ports of Hamburg and Bremen. By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France.