The Deutsche Bahn AG

The Deutsche Bahn AGis the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company (AG) and the largest railway company in the world.

Deutsche Bahn is the second-largest transport company in Germany, after the German postal and logistics company Deutsche Post / DHL. DB provides both long-distance and regional transport, serving around 132 million long distance passengers and 1.6 billion regional passengers in 2022. In 2022, DB transported 222 millions tons of cargo.

The group is divided into several companies, including DB Fernverkehr (long-distance passenger), DB Regio (local passenger services) and DB Cargo (rail freight). The Group subsidiary DB Netz also operates large parts of the German railway infrastructure, making it the largest rail network in Europe.

DB was founded after the merger between the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1994 after the unification of Germany and has been operating ever since.

The company generates about half of its total revenue from operating rail transport, with the other half of the business comprising further transport and logistics businesses, as well as various service providers. The company generates further revenue through public transport contracts and support services for infrastructure maintenance and expansion.