DB Fahrplan API
★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMaps GeolocationRouting DirectionsapiKey4 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Resolve German rail station names, pull live departure and arrival boards, and fetch journey detail records from Deutsche Bahn's timetable API.
Use for: Find the next train from Berlin Hbf to Munich Hbf, Look up the Deutsche Bahn stop ID for 'Frankfurt Hbf', Show me arrivals at Cologne main station for the next hour, Get the route detail for an ICE train
Not supported: Does not handle ticket purchase, fare calculation, or seat reservation — use for German rail station resolution, live departure/arrival boards, and journey detail lookups only.
The DB Fahrplan API is Deutsche Bahn's open timetable interface for the German rail network and connecting European services. The four endpoints cover the canonical journey-planning flow: resolve a station name to a stop ID, retrieve a board of upcoming departures or arrivals at that stop, and pull the detail view for a specific journey. Authentication is a single authKey query parameter. Travel apps, expense tools, and AI travel agents use it to surface live train timetables without operating a dedicated rail-data feed.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the DB Fahrplan API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the DB Fahrplan API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with DB Fahrplan API.
Resolve a station name to a stop ID via GET /location.name
Retrieve upcoming departures at a stop via GET /departureBoard
Retrieve upcoming arrivals at a stop via GET /arrivalBoard
Pull the full journey detail for a train via GET /journeyDetail
Drive travel apps, expense tools, and rail dashboards with live German rail data
Power AI travel agents that need to confirm specific train times for a German journey
Use Cases
Patterns agents use DB Fahrplan API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Travel App Train Lookup
Travel and ticketing apps call DB Fahrplan to surface live train times for users planning journeys across Germany. The flow starts with GET /location.name to convert a station name into a stop ID, then GET /departureBoard to render a board of next trains. Most apps integrate this in a couple of days.
Resolve 'Berlin Hauptbahnhof' to a stop ID via GET /location.name, then call GET /departureBoard for the next 60 minutes and return the next 5 trains
Expense Reconciliation
Travel-expense platforms use GET /journeyDetail to pull canonical Deutsche Bahn route detail (origin, destination, departure time, train number) and reconcile employee-submitted train tickets against the actual scheduled service. This catches typos and date errors before reimbursement and keeps audit logs accurate.
Given an ICE train number and date, call GET /journeyDetail to confirm origin, destination, and departure time match a submitted expense
Station Display Board
Public information displays in offices, hotels, and retail premises near major German stations call GET /departureBoard and GET /arrivalBoard on a polling schedule to surface a live train board for visitors. The simple authKey query parameter keeps the integration trivial to deploy on signage hardware.
Poll GET /departureBoard for stop ID 8011160 (Berlin Hbf) every 60 seconds and render the next 12 trains
AI Travel Agent
AI travel agents booking or advising on German rail journeys call DB Fahrplan through Jentic to confirm specific train times, validate platform numbers, and resolve station names mentioned in user messages. Jentic isolates the authKey in its vault, so the agent only handles stop IDs and timestamps.
Given the user query 'next ICE from Berlin to Munich', resolve both stations via GET /location.name, then return the next direct ICE departure with platform and arrival time
Key Endpoints
4 endpoints — the db fahrplan api is deutsche bahn's open timetable interface for the german rail network and connecting european services.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/location.name
Resolve a station name to a Deutsche Bahn stop ID
GET
/departureBoard
Live upcoming departures at a stop
GET
/arrivalBoard
Live upcoming arrivals at a stop
GET
/journeyDetail
Detail for a specific train journey
GET
/location.name
Resolve a station name to a Deutsche Bahn stop ID
GET
/departureBoard
Live upcoming departures at a stop
GET
/arrivalBoard
Live upcoming arrivals at a stop
GET
/journeyDetail
Detail for a specific train journey
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
DB Fahrplan authKey query parameter values are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped access tokens — the raw authKey never enters the agent's context or appears in request URLs in logs.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g. 'find the next train from a German station' or 'resolve a station name') and Jentic returns matching DB Fahrplan operations with their input schemas, so the agent runs the resolve-then-board flow without browsing the DB Open Data portal.
Time to first call
Direct DB Fahrplan integration: a few hours for authKey handling, station resolution, and board parsing. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using DB Fahrplan API through Jentic.
What authentication does the DB Fahrplan API use?
DB Fahrplan uses an API key passed as the authKey query parameter on every request. Through Jentic, the authKey is stored encrypted in the MAXsystem vault, so AI travel agents never handle the raw secret in URLs.
Can I get live German train times with the DB Fahrplan API?
Yes. GET /departureBoard and GET /arrivalBoard return live upcoming departures and arrivals at a Deutsche Bahn stop. Resolve the stop ID first via GET /location.name.
What are the rate limits for the DB Fahrplan API?
Deutsche Bahn does not publish hard per-key rate limits in this spec; the open API portal asks integrators to be considerate with polling cadence. For high-frequency display boards, contact DB Open Data for a partnership-grade key.
How do I look up the next train between two stations through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'find departures from a German rail station', load the GET /departureBoard operation, and execute it with the resolved stop ID. Resolve the station name to an ID first via GET /location.name. Jentic injects the authKey automatically.
Does the DB Fahrplan API include ticket prices or booking?
No. This is a timetable and journey detail surface only — for fares, ticket purchase, and seat reservation, use a separate Deutsche Bahn product such as the bahn.de buchung flow.
Does the DB Fahrplan API cover services outside Germany?
It covers the German rail network and integrated cross-border services (e.g. ICE to Switzerland, France, Austria) where Deutsche Bahn carries the timetable. Pure foreign-operator services are not covered.
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