Open Api Bahn De DB Fahrplan API
Agent-ready OpenAPI document · curated by JenticMaps GeolocationRouting DirectionsapiKey4 EndpointsREST
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For Agents
Look up Deutsche Bahn stations, retrieve live departure and arrival boards, and fetch detail for a specific train journey across Germany's rail network.
Use for: Find the DB station id for 'Berlin Hauptbahnhof', List the next departures from Munich main station, Show me arrivals into Frankfurt Hbf in the next hour, Get the stop list for a specific ICE journey
Not supported: Does not sell tickets, calculate fares, or book reservations - use for German rail station, departure-board, arrival-board, and journey-detail lookups only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for DB Fahrplan API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. Deutsche Bahn's Fahrplan (timetable) API exposes train and station data for Germany and connecting European routes. The four endpoints cover station search by name, departure and arrival boards for a station, and detail lookups for a specific journey leg. It is the canonical agent-readable view of DB schedule data and is suitable for travel-assistance, journey-planning, and station-monitor use cases.
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.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fopen-api.bahn.de%2Fdeutsche-bahn" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fopen-api.bahn.de%2Fdeutsche-bahn" | 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 free-text station name to a structured DB station record with coordinates
Pull the live departure board for a station with platform and delay information
Pull the live arrival board for a station with origin and arrival-time data
Fetch the detailed stop list for a specific train journey between two stations
Build journey-planning prompts that resolve a station name and immediately read its board
Use Cases
Patterns agents use DB Fahrplan API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Live Station Departure Board
Render an up-to-date list of trains leaving a German station, including platform, scheduled time, and any delay. GET /departureBoard takes a station id resolved from /location.name and returns a structured board that an agent can summarise back to a traveller in plain language.
Resolve 'Berlin Hbf' via GET /location.name, then call GET /departureBoard for that station id and return the next 10 departures with platform and delay.
Arrival Tracking for Pickups
Track when a train will arrive at a station so a connecting traveller or a meet-and-greet agent knows when to be there. GET /arrivalBoard returns the inbound board for a station with origin and live arrival time, suitable for a station-monitor display or a notification flow.
Call GET /arrivalBoard for station 8011160 (Berlin Hbf) and return arrivals from origin 'Hamburg Hbf' in the next hour.
Journey Detail Drill-Down
Expand a single departure into its full stop list to show a traveller every station on the line, the dwell times, and the platform at each stop. GET /journeyDetail accepts the journey reference returned from a board and returns the complete leg, which is the canonical input for an itinerary-rendering agent.
After picking a departure, call GET /journeyDetail with that journey reference and return the ordered list of stations and platforms for the trip.
AI Agent Travel Assistant
Let a Jentic-orchestrated travel agent answer 'when is the next train' questions about German rail without holding the DB API key. The agent resolves the station name, reads the board, and returns a natural-language summary, all without seeing the raw authKey query parameter.
Search Jentic for 'next train departures from a German station', load the GET /departureBoard schema, and execute it for 'Frankfurt Hbf' returning the next 5 departures.
Key Endpoints
4 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for db fahrplan api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/location.name
Resolve a station name to a station id and coordinates
GET
/departureBoard
Live departures for a station
GET
/arrivalBoard
Live arrivals for a station
GET
/journeyDetail
Full stop list for a specific journey
GET
/location.name
Resolve a station name to a station id and coordinates
GET
/departureBoard
Live departures for a station
GET
/arrivalBoard
Live arrivals for a station
GET
/journeyDetail
Full stop list for a specific journey
Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the DB Fahrplan API by hand means appending your authKey query parameter to every request and resolving station names before you can read boards yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the DB Fahrplan API from the API Directory, store the auth key once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
The DB Fahrplan API is read-only and takes its station and journey targets as query parameters rather than a resource id in the URL path, so limit the agent to the operations it needs, such as resolving a station, reading a departure board, or fetching journey detail. You credit the agent only with the operations you allow.
Credential isolation
Your DB Fahrplan auth key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find live departures for a station' or 'resolve a station name to an id', and Jentic returns the matching DB Fahrplan operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using DB Fahrplan API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for DB Fahrplan API?
Deutsche Bahn publishes the Fahrplan API documentation on developer pages and a SwaggerHub mirror but does not maintain a canonical OpenAPI document on its own developer site. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so AI agents and developers can call DB Fahrplan API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.
What authentication does the DB Fahrplan API use?
The Fahrplan API authenticates with an authKey query parameter on every request. Through Jentic the authKey is held in the vault and appended at execution time so the agent never sees the raw key in URLs or logs.
Can I plan a multi-leg journey with this API?
The four endpoints in this spec do not include a journey-planner that takes an origin and destination and returns a routed trip. Use GET /location.name to resolve stations and GET /departureBoard plus GET /journeyDetail to assemble a leg. For full route planning, combine with a routing API.
What are the rate limits for the DB Fahrplan API?
Deutsche Bahn does not document a single rate-limit value in this spec; access is governed per developer key. Plan for throttling, cache board results that change at most once per minute, and back off on 429 responses.
How do I look up the next train from a station through Jentic?
Run pip install jentic and search for 'next train departures from a German station'. Jentic returns the GET /departureBoard operation; resolve the station id first with GET /location.name and then load and execute the board schema with that id.
Does this API cover regional and S-Bahn services?
The Fahrplan dataset includes long-distance, regional, and many S-Bahn services that DB operates, returned through the same departure and arrival boards. Operator coverage outside DB depends on the agreements behind the dataset and is not guaranteed for every regional network.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the DB Fahrplan API?
Yes. The DB Fahrplan API is read-only and takes its station and journey targets as query parameters, so in your own self-hosted Jentic One instance you decide which of its operations the agent may call. You can allow only what a given agent needs, such as resolving a station name with GET /location.name, reading a departure board with GET /departureBoard, reading an arrival board with GET /arrivalBoard, or fetching a stop list with GET /journeyDetail. Your rules govern both the permitted operations and the credential the agent uses, so the agent runs with exactly the access you grant and no more.
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