page_title: Transport in Germany
section_title: Rapid transit (U-Bahn)
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Germany / Rail transport / Rapid transit (U-Bahn)
caption_attribution_description: English: C-Zug of U-Bahn München (Type C 1.9, Car 610) at Garching-HochbrückClass C train at Garching-Hochbrück
context_page_description: As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense and modern transport infrastructure.
  The first highway system to have been built, the extensive German Autobahn network famously has no general speed limit for light vehicles. The country's most important waterway is the river Rhine. The largest port is that of Hamburg. Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport and European transport hub. Air travel is used for greater distances within Germany but faces competition from the state-owned Deutsche Bahn's rail network. High-speed trains called ICE connect cities for passenger travel with speeds up to 300 km/h. Many German cities have rapid transit systems and public transport is available in most areas. Buses have historically only played a marginal role in long distance passenger service, as all routes directly competing with rail services were technically outlawed by a law dating to 1935. Only in 2012 was this law officially amended and thus a long distance bus market has also emerged in Germany since then.
context_section_description: Relatively few cities have a full-fledged underground U-Bahn system; S-Bahn (suburban commuter railway) systems are far more common. In some cities the distinction between U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems is blurred, for instance some S-Bahn systems run underground, have frequencies similar to U-Bahn, and form part of the same integrated transport network. A larger number of cities has upgraded their tramways to light rail standards. These systems are called Stadtbahn (not to be confused with S-Bahn), on main line rails.
  Cities with U-Bahn systems are:
  Berlin (U-Bahn)
  Hamburg (U-Bahn)
  Munich (U-Bahn)
  Nuremberg/Fürth (U-Bahn)
  With the exception of Hamburg, all of those aforementioned cities also have a tram system, often with new lines built to light rail standards.
  Cities with Stadtbahn systems can be found in the article Trams in Germany.
caption: Train on the Munich U-Bahn
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