Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

regional train Regional rail is a public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connecting smaller cities a ...

. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

'' (in Austria: ''

Regionalzug Regionalzug (; ), abbreviated as R, is a type of local passenger train in Austria. It is similar to the Regionalbahn (RB) and Regio (R) train categories in neighboring Germany and Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederat ...

'') or

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

trains, but stops more often than ''

Intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

'' or ''

Intercity Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

'' services.

Operations

The first Regional-Express services were operated by

DB Regio DB Regio AG () is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates regional and commuter train services in Germany. It is a 100% subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group and therefore part of the DB Regio business segment, which also includes DB Regionn ...

, though since the liberalisation of the German rail market (''Bahnreform'') in the 1990s many operators have received franchise rights on lines from the

federal states A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

. Some private operators currently operate trains that are similar to a Regional-Express service, but have decided to use their own names for the sake of brand awareness instead. Regional-Express services are carried out with a variety of vehicles such as

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

(of Class 612),

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

(of Class 425 or 426) or, most commonly, electric or diesel locomotives with double-deck cars, the latter often with new Class 146 engines. Many RE services run in hourly intervals, carrying line numbers and sometimes even names, varying from state to state. Since late 2006, Regional-Express services between

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

that operate on the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway reach top speeds of . These services are operated with repainted ''

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

'' cars and Class 101 locomotives or Class 102 and double-deck cars.

Sweden

In Sweden, several regional trains reach . They are usually called just regional trains, or named after their respective regional transit administration. Two large regional train networks are

Øresundståg Øresundståg (, ) is a passenger train network operated by Transdev in the transnational Øresund Region of Denmark and Sweden. The name is a hybrid of the Danish ''Øresundstog'' and the Swedish ''Öresundståg'', both meaning "Øresund train ...

and Mälartåg, operating services partially in parallel with local train services like

Pågatågen Pågatågen is an interurban commuter and regional railway system in Skåne County, Sweden, and is owned by Skånetrafiken, the regional public transportation authority. The trains are operated by the contractor VR Sverige (owned by Finnish state ...

and

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik Storstockholms Lokaltrafik known as SL, () is the public transport organisation responsible for managing land-based public transport in Stockholm County, Sweden. SL oversees a network that includes the Stockholm Metro, ''Tunnelbana'' metro, Stock ...

commuter trains.

References

Passenger rail transport in Germany Regional rail in Germany {{Germany-rail-transport-stub