Germany - Lines with Obscure or Sparse passenger services
From EGTRE
Introduction
Owing to the size and complexity of the German railway system, the Obscure Services listing is subdivided by Land (Province). Berlin and Bremen are separate Länder, but it is convenient to include them with Brandenburg and Niedersachsen respectively. Details of Other Sparse Services, Services not included in the DB Kursbuch and Deletions since previous edition can be found below.
The stations at which long-distance trains start and terminate may vary, depending on the date. Where there are more than two possibilities, such as a train terminating at Kassel, Hannover or Hamburg, only the shortest and longest itineraries are indicated in the lists on this site.
A brief Guide to German railway terminology is available.
This list is based on the timetable dated from 12 December 2021 to 10 December 2022, unless otherwise stated.
List of Länder (Regions)
| Baden-Württemberg | entries starting with 'DExx/601' |
| Bayern | entries starting with 'DExx/651' |
| Berlin and Brandenburg | entries starting with 'DExx/251' |
| Hamburg | entries starting with 'DExx/051' |
| Hessen | entries starting with 'DExx/501' |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | entries starting with 'DExx/101' |
| Niedersachsen and Bremen | entries starting with 'DExx/151' |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | entries starting with 'DExx/351' |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | entries starting with 'DExx/401' |
| Saarland | entries starting with 'DExx/451' |
| Sachsen | entries starting with 'DExx/301' |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | entries starting with 'DExx/201' |
| Schleswig-Holstein | entries starting with 'DExx/001' |
| Thüringen | entries starting with 'DExx/551' |
Other Services
The Other Services Page contains trains not operated by DB and which do not appear in their journey planner or timetables. These are mainly seasonal overnight services run by foreign operators.
Trams
See Germany - Tram services over obscure routes
Other Sparse Services
| 186 | Bad Doberan – Ostseebad Kühlungsborn West | Limited winter service |
| 190 | Bergen auf Rügen – Sassnitz-Mukran Fahrhafen | Two train pairs on Saturdays only from May to mid-October |
| 209.20 | Priort – Falkenhagen and Hennigsdorf – Birkenwerder (b. Berlin) | No weekend service over these sections |
| 209.27 | Wensickendorf – Schmachtenhagen | Weekends only |
| 209.73 | Kyritz Am Bürgerpark – Pritzwalk | Only four train pairs on weekdays; three at weekends |
| 209.74 | Pritzwalk – Meyenburg | Five train pairs on weekdays; three at weekends |
| 238 | Zittau – Kurort Jonsdorf/Kurort Oybin | Limited service for most of the winter |
| 257 | Dessau Hbf – Wörlitz | No winter service |
| 326 | Drei Annen Hohne – Eisfelder Talmühle | Variable, but limited, service |
| 333 | Alexisbad – Hasselfelde and Eisfelder Talmühle | Variable, but limited, service |
| 351 | Einbeck Mitte – Einbeck BBS/PS-Speicher | Limited service weekdays, no service at weekends on this newly-reopened section |
| 397 | [Leer –] Ihrhove – Weener | No trains until probably December 2024, following destruction of the River Ems bridge |
| 509 | Radebeul Ost – Radeburg | Five trains daily; only two beyond Moritzburg. Closed most of March and November. |
| 513 | Freital Hainsberg – Kurort Kipsdorf | Only two trains daily plus one short working to Dippoldiswalde. Closed most of March and November. |
| 517 | Cranzahl – Vejprty (CZ) [– Chomutov] | Three trains on summer weekends only |
| 518 | Cranzahl – Kurort Oberwiesenthal | Four trains daily; closed most of March and November |
| 544 | Bad Brambach – Plesná (CZ) | Only five trains daily |
| 566 | Ilmenau – Rennsteig | Weekends only |
| 662.1 | Monsheim – Münchweiler (Alsenz) | Summer Sundays only |
| 666 | Ramsen – Eiswoog | Weekends only |
| 675.1 | Bundenthal-Rumbach – Hinterweidenthal Ost | Summer Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays only |
| 692 | Perl – Thionville [France] | Weekends only; limited service |
| 707 | Neckarbischofsheim Nord – Hüffenhardt | Five trains on summer Sundays and holidays only, only three of which run between Siegelsbach and Hüffenhardt |
| 732.1 | Stockach – Mengen | Three train pairs on summer Sundays only |
| 737 | Lauchringen – Weizen | Five trains on weekdays, except school holidays, to and from Stühlingen; only two trains on summer Sundays to and from Weizen |
| 743 | Geisingen-Leipferdingen – Blumberg-Zollhaus | Limited service |
| 752 | Aulendorf – Bad Wurzach | Summer Sundays only |
| 754 | Aulendorf – Pfullendorf | Summer Sundays only |
| 758 | Amstetten – Gerstetten | Summer weekends only |
| 759 | Gammertingen – Engstingen | Limited service at weekends and during school holidays |
| 767 | Eyach – Hechingen (HzL) | Summer Sundays only |
| 769 | Balingen – Schömberg | Summer Sundays only |
| 772 | Maulbronn West – Maulbronn Stadt | Summer Sundays only |
| 790.11 | Kornwestheim – Stuttgart-Untertürkheim | Mondays to Fridays peak hours only. Also used by NJ468/469 Wien Hbf – Paris Est MThSO and v.v. SuTFO |
Regular services not in the Kursbuch
The following lines are not included in the online DB Kursbuch, but in most cases timetables can be found on the websites shown. If not, a link to a journey planner is supplied. Long-distance services appear in most, but not all, tables in the Kursbuch where they would be expected to be found, so the DB journey planner or the European Rail Timetable is often the best guide to these.
| All Flixtrain services | Flixbus (journey planner) (a separate Flixtrain website no longer exists) | |
| 101.1 | Wedel (Holst) – Hamburg Airport / Poppenbüttel (S1) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 101.2 | Hamburg-Altona – Bergedorf (S2) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 101.3 | Pinneberg – Stade (S3) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 101.11 | Blankenese – Poppenbüttel (S11) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 101.21 | Elbgaustraße / Altona – Aumühle (S21) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 101.31 | Hamburg-Altona – Berliner Tor / Neugraben (S31) | S-Bahn Hamburg (journey planner) |
| 130 | Hamburg – Westerland (Sylt) | nah.sh |
| 133 | Kiel Hbf – Oppendorf | nah.sh |
| 136.1 | Niebüll – Tønder (DK) [– Esbjerg] | nah.sh |
| 137 | Neumünster – Kaltenkirchen – Hamburg-Eidelstedt | nah.sh |
| 138 | Ulzburg Süd – Norderstedt Mitte | nah.sh |
| 139 | Elmshorn – Barmstedt – Ulzburg Süd | nah.sh |
| 140 | [Hamburg –] Lübeck – Neustadt (Holst) – Fehmarn (SEV) | nah.sh |
| 145 | Lüneburg – Lübeck – Kiel | nah.sh |
| 174 | Waren (Müritz) – Inselstadt Malchow [– Parchim / Plau am See (summer weekends)] | ODEG |
| 201 | Magdeburg – Berlin – Frankfurt (Oder) – Cottbus | ODEG |
| 209.12 | Berlin – Löwenberg (Mark) – Templin Stadt | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.25 | Berlin – Werneuchen | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.26 | Berlin – Küstrin-Kietz [– Kostrzyn (PL)] | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.27 | Berlin-Karow – Groß Schönebeck/Schmachtenhagen | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.33 | Potsdam Hbf – Jüterbog | ODEG |
| 209.35 | Furstenwalde (Spree) – Bad Saarow-Pieskow | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.36 | Königs Wusterhausen – Frankfurt (Oder) | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.46 | Cottbus – Forst (Lausitz) | ODEG |
| 209.51 | Rathenow – Brandenburg | ODEG |
| 209.54 | Löwenberg (Mark) – Rheinsberg (Mark) | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.60 | Eberswalde – Wriezen – Frankfurt (Oder) | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.63 | Eberswalde – Joachimsthal | Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn (NEB) |
| 209.73 | Neustadt (Dosse) – Pritzwalk | Hanseatische Eisenbahn |
| 209.74 | Pritzwalk – Meyenburg | Hanseatische Eisenbahn |
| 220 | Cottbus – Görlitz – Zittau | ODEG |
| 229 | Görlitz – Hoyerswerda | ODEG |
| 236 | Seifhennersdorf – Zittau | Trilex |
| 238 | Zittau – Kurort Oybin / Kurort Jonsdorf | SOEG |
| 257 | Dessau – Wörlitz (seasonal - may appear in due course) | Dessau-Wörlitzer Eisenbahn |
| 269 | Stendal – Tangermünde | Hanseatische Eisenbahn |
| 312 | Braunschweig – Wolfenbüttel – Schöppenstedt | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 351 | Göttingen – Einbeck BBS/PS-Speicher | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 352 | Braunschweig – Salzgitter-Lebenstedt | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 354 | Göttingen / Holzminden – Bad Harzburg | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 357 | Göttingen – Northeim – Herzberg – Nordhausen | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 358 | Braunschweig – Seesen – Herzberg | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 360.1 | Minden (Westf) – Hannover – Haste (S1) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.2 | Nienburg (Weser) – Hannover – Haste (S2) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.3 | Hannover – Hildesheim (S3) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.4 | Bennemühlen – Hannover – Hildesheim (S4) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.5 | Hannover Flughafen – Hannover – Paderborn (S5) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.6 | Hannover – Celle (S6) | Transdev Hannover |
| 360.7 | Hannover – Lehrte – Celle (S7) | Transdev Hannover |
| 380 | Bremen – Hannover | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 385 | Bremen – Osnabrück – Münster | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 390 | Bremen – Emden – Norddeich Mole | DB Regio (journey planner) |
| 479 | Boppard – Emmelshausen | Hunsrückbahn |
| former 484 | Düren – Heimbach (Eifel) | Rurtalbahn |
| 514 | Freiberg (Sachs) – Holzhau | Freiberger Eisenbahn |
| 520 | Elsterwerda – Riesa – Chemnitz | Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn |
| 524 | Chemnitz – Aue (Sachs) | City-Bahn Chemnitz |
| 691 | Bullay – Traben-Trarbach | Moselweinbahn |
| former 12474 | Düren - Euskirchen | Rurtalbahn |
Deletions since previous edition
| DE22/004 | Burg (Fehmarn) West | Line closed for several years for complete rebuilding in conjunction with the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel project | ||||
| DE22/353 | Hagen-Vorhalle – Abzw Hagen-Hengstey – Schwerte (Ruhr) (– Westhofen(Westf)) | Winter ski trains were suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic and have not run since | - | DE22/359 | Hilden – Opladen | No booked services so moved to Engineering Work section as DE23/3xx |
| DE22/452 | Merzig – Merzig Ost | MECL Eisenbahnfreunde e.V. have not operated trains over this connection since 2016 | ||||
| DE22/666 | Prien Bahnhof – Stock Hafen | This museum line runs hourly every day in summer so can neither be considered obscure nor sparse |
