Railway abbreviations have the following meaning
| Railway | Country | Era | Name of railway |
| KWStE | Germany before 1922 | I | K�niglich
W�rttembergische Staatseisenbahn Royal W�rttemberg State Railway |
| KBayStEB | Germany before 1922 | I | K�niglich
Bayrische Staatseisenbahn Royal Bavarian State Railway |
| KSStB | Germany before 1922 | I | K�niglich
S�chsische Staatsbahn Royal Saxon State Railway |
| KPEV | Germany before 1922 | I | K�niglich
Preussischer Eisenbahn Verband Royal Prussian Railway Union |
| DRG | Germany before 1949 | II | Deutsche
Reichsbahn Gesellschaft Railway Company of the German Empire |
| DB | Germany ( 1949-1990 | III/IV | Deutsche
Bundesbahn (West Germany) German Federal Railway |
| DR | Germany 1949-1990 | III/IV | Deutsche
Reichsbahn (East Germany) Railway of the German Empire |
| DBAG | Germany after 1990 | V | Deutsche Bahn AG (unified Germany) |
| Thalys | Germany and France | V | Joint high-speed venture of DBAG and SNCF providing service from Cologne to Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris |