Passenger rights

Standardised nationwide passenger rights for rail passengers throughout Germany came into effect on 29 July 2009. Rail transport includes all trains – from urban trains to regional transport and ICE trains – regardless of which rail company is operating them.

Refunds on the national rail network

Your rights are based on your ticket and journey. You are entitled to a refund for a series of journeys made on trains operated by different companies for which one ticket is used. It therefore makes no difference whether you travelled solely on our trains or whether you travelled for some of the journey on trains operated by other companies. You can claim for damages occurring on rail transport included on your ticket, i.e. the cause and effect of the damage must have occurred on this transport. Buses, S-Bahn and U-Bahn journeys are not included.

Passenger rights apply to delays at the destination and not at the departure station.

Refunds for delays
For delays of 60 minutes or more you will receive a 25% refund, while for delays of 120 minutes or more you will receive a 50% refund on the price paid for a single journey. For return tickets, the refund will be calculated based on half of the ticket price paid. Local and long-distance transport season tickets will be refunded for delays of 60 minutes or over with the following fixed amounts:

  • Local transport season tickets: €1.50 (second class)/€2.25 (first class)
  • Long-distance transport season tickets: €5.00 (second class)/€7.50 (first class)
  • Mobility BahnCard 100: €10.00 (second class)/€15.00 (first class)

You also have the option to end your journey and travel back to your departure station for free, and receive a refund for the price of the untravelled part of your route.

You can find further information on your passenger rights on the national rail network here: http://www.fahrgastrechte.info

Please send the completed form with all required documentation to the following address:

Servicecenter Fahrgastrechte
60647 Frankfurt am Main | Deutschland

The following documents must be attached:

  • The completed and signed form
  • Your ticket or a copy of your ticket
  • Details of the costs if your ticket does not show the price (except the Mobility BahnCard 100)
  • Details of the surcharge for using an ICE-Sprinter in original copy if applicable