DB Fahrplan API

Name: DB Fahrplan API
Brand: DB Fahrplan API
Availability: InStock

★ 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.

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.

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 | sh

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 instance

Jentic 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

GET STARTED

Start building with DB Fahrplan API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

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

Your DB Fahrplan authKey is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected as the query parameter at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or the request URLs recorded in logs.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find the next train from a German station' or 'resolve a station name', and Jentic returns the 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

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 your Jentic One instance, 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.

Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the DB Fahrplan API?

Yes. Jentic One is self-hosted, so you run your own instance and your own rules decide which DB Fahrplan operations the agent may call and which credentials it may use. You can allow only the operations a task needs, such as resolving a station name with GET /location.name and reading a board with GET /departureBoard or GET /arrivalBoard, while withholding GET /journeyDetail. Every DB Fahrplan operation is a read-only GET with the station and query carried as request parameters rather than as a path id, so no write or booking path is reachable in the first place.