Railway station types in Germany

Current usage

• Bf – Bahnhof, defined as a place where trains may start, stop, end, overtake, meet or change directions, and that has at least one set of points.
• Hbf – Hauptbahnhof, the main or central station of a town or city. Also the only abbreviation commonly found on station timetables and signs.
• Pbf – Personenbahnhof, usually used to differentiate in places that have several types of stations, but only one passenger station.
• Fbf – Fernbahnhof.
• Rbf – Rangierbahnhof.
• * Ubf – Umschlagbahnhof
• * Postbf – Postbahnhof
• Gbf – Güterbahnhof.
• Bbf – Betriebsbahnhof.
• Bft – Bahnhofsteil, used when a station consists of distinct facilities, for example a Pbf and a Rbf.
• Hp – Haltepunkt, a passenger stop that does not fit the requirements to be a Bf. Defined as a place where trains can start, stop, terminate or reverse, and passengers can board and alight from trains, but which has no sets of points in the vicinity.
• Hst – Haltestelle, the term for a Haltepunkt at the same location as an Abzweigstelle or an Anschlussstelle.

  Other abbreviations

• Abzw – Abzweigstelle
• Anst – Anschlußstelle. To avoid accidents, trains using an Anst must not be passed by trains running on the main line.
• Awanst – Ausweichanschlußstelle, an industrial siding outside the station limits where trains can run on the main line while another train is shunting at the siding.
• Bk – Blockstelle a signal box outside station limits, where there is a long distance between stations and/or junctions/crossovers, with just one signal in each direction, to allow more trains following each other
• Slst– Schiffslandestelle
• Üst – Überleitstelle