A Schnellzug is an express train in German-speaking countries, where it refers to trains that do not stop at all stations along a line. The term is used both generically and also as a specific train type. In Germany and Austria it is also referred to colloquially as a D-Zug, a short form of Durchgangszug ("through train"), and express train services were often given numbers preceded by the letter D. The similar term, snälltåg, was used in Sweden until January 1980.
On the railway networks operated by the Deutsche Bahn (DB), the Austrian Federal Railway (ÖBB) and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) today, express trains are divided into categories such as Eurocity, Intercity, Interregio etc. The DB still occasionally runs D-Zug services in night trains (D-Nacht), especially those to its eastern European neighbours, and as relief trains. Museum services running on DB routes are also given D-Zug numbers. ÖBB runs D-Züge on main routes from/to Vienna on weekends and during rush hours.
Germany
The first express trains
The first German express train ran on 1 May 1851 between Berlin and Deutz am Rhein (today part of Cologne) and completed the journey in 16 hours. Three months later, on 1 August 1851, the first night train ran from Berlin to Bromberg. The Prussian state demanded a country-wide network of night trains; consequently the various railway companies started up fast courier trains in the years that followed (1852 to 1854), from Berlin to Breslau, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Cologne. Passengers on the night-time courier trains between Berlin and Frankfurt had to pay a higher fare for the first time in order to compensate for the higher crew costs of night-time through trains.
Up to 1889 fast train services were given the letter S for Schnellzug (express train, plural: Schnellzüge ) or K for Kurierzug (courier train). From 1889 all such services in Germany were given the standard letter S.
Durchgangszug (D)
From 1892 a new train category with especially comfortable express coaches appeared: the Durchgangszug or D-Zug (plural: D-Züge). Originally these were trains in which one could walk right through from end to end by means of bellows-type corridor connectors between coaches and side corridors or centre aisles within coaches, unlike the hitherto usual compartment coaches with doors on each side of the compartment, but no access to the next coach.
The first D-Züge ran on 1 May 1892 on the following routes:
Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof–Paderborn Hauptbahnhof–Köln Hauptbahnhof and
Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof–Nordhausen–Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof.
They comprised 1st and 2nd class coaches, dining and sleeping cars (on night trains). They were meant to be not only very comfortable but also particularly punctual. A supplement of 2 marks was payable on D-Zug services. In 1894, the first D-Zug with third class coaches ran between Berlin and East Prussia.
By 1917 almost all Schnellzüge in Germany had been gradually reclassified as D-Züge or converted to supplement-free fast-stopping trains, the so-called Eilzüge. The only standard fare trains which did not stop at all stations were the beschleunigte Personenzüge (BP) or "fast passenger trains". A few Schnellzüge remained in Bavaria where they attracted supplementary fares on the Munich-Mittenwald-Innsbruck line; these did not become D-Züge until 1929.
Fernschnellzug (FD)
From 1923 very fast trains were grouped into a new Fernschnellzug (FD-Zug) or "long-distance express train" category and only offered 1st and 2nd class accommodation (e. g. FD Rheingold), whilst the majority of D-Züge at that time ran with 1st, 2nd and 3rd class coaches. FD services were withdrawn on 22 August 1939.
From 1933, FD trains were joined by express railcars of the Flying Hamburger type. These trains were classed as FDt or Fernschnellzug mit Triebwagen ("long-distance express train with railcar") and usually offered 2nd class accommodation only. These services ceased on 22 August 1939.
Military trains in the Second World War
During the Second World War a new train type, the so-called Schnellzug für Fronturlauber ("military express train", literally the "express train for those on leave from the front") or SF-Zug was created. These expresses took the shortest route between the Wehrmacht's operational theatres (including France, Greece and the Soviet Union) and the Deutsche Reich. Some SF-Zug services were open to the general public. This category was the SFR-Zug (Schnellzug für Fronturlauber mit Reisezugteil or "military express with passenger section").