instance_of bayerische regionaleisenbahn
Deutsche Bahn AG ( abbreviated as " DB ", " DB AG " or " DBAG ") is a German railway ___MASK34___ . Headquartered in Berlin , it is a private ___MASK57___ - stock ___MASK34___ ( AG ), with the Federal ___MASK85___ of Germany being its ___MASK27___ shareholder . Deutsche Bahn describes itself as the second - largest ___MASK30___ in the world , after the German postal and logistics ___MASK34___ Deutsche Post / DHL , and is the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in Europe . It carries about two billion passengers each year . ___MASK90___ is the ___MASK60___ and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states . With a population of approximately 3 . 5 million people , ___MASK90___ is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union . Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of rivers Spree and Havel , it is the centre of the ___MASK90___ - Brandenburg Metropolitan Region , which has about 6 million residents from more than 180 nations . Due to its location in the European Plain , ___MASK90___ is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate . Around one - third of the city ' s area is composed of forests , parks , gardens , rivers and lakes . The Bayerische Regionaleisenbahn or BRE ( literally : Bavarian Regional Railway ) is a German railway ___MASK34___ and a subsidiary of Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn ( DRE ) . Its headquarters is in Weidenberg and , since 2004 , it has mainly acted as a railway infrastructure ___MASK34___ . Its primary aim is to prevent the closure and associated disposal of railway routes in the state of Bavaria . This is achieved either by the signing of route protection agreements with the former owners , DB Netz , or by taking over the routes either by rental or purchase . Bavaria is a federal ___MASK23___ . Located in the German southeast with an area of 70 , 548 square kilometres ( 27 , 200 sq mi ), Bavaria is the largest German state . Its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany , and , with 12 . 9 million inhabitants , it is Germany ' s second most populous state . Munich , Bavaria ' s capital and largest city , is the third largest city in Germany . Hanover or Hannover , on the ___MASK3___ Leine , is the ___MASK60___ and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony (" Niedersachsen "), and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , under their title as the dukes of Brunswick - Lüneburg ( later described as the Elector of Hanover ). At the end of the Napoleonic Wars , the Electorate was enlarged to become a Kingdom with Hanover as its ___MASK60___ . The Red Main is a ___MASK3___ in southern Germany . It is the southern , left headstream of the ___MASK3___ Main . It rises in the hills of Franconian Switzerland , near Haag and flows generally northwest through the towns Creußen , Bayreuth , Heinersreuth and Neudrossenfeld . It merges with the White Main near Kulmbach to form the Main . The Red Main is long and descends a total of . Weidenberg is a ___MASK1___ in the ___MASK92___ of Bayreuth in Bavaria in Germany . The Ölschnitz river discharges near Weidenberg - Neunkirchen into the Red Main . DB Netz AG is a 100 %- owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn is a railway ___MASK50___ provider , which owns and operates a majority of the German railway ___MASK16___ ( 2005 : 34 , 211 km ). The company was established in the ___MASK62___ of the second stage of the German rail reform as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn . DB Netz  s headquarters are in Frankfurt and it has seven regional divisions (" Regionalbereiche ", RB ). The locations of its regional headquarters are Berlin ( RB east ), Frankfurt ( RB central ), Duisburg ( RB west ), Hanover ( RB north ), Karlsruhe ( RB southwest ), Leipzig ( RB southeast ) and Munich ( RB south ). Karlsruhe ( formerly Carlsruhe ) is the second - largest ___MASK94___ in the state of Baden - Württemberg , in southwest Germany , near the French - German ___MASK4___ . It has a population of 307 , 755 . The ___MASK94___ is the seat of the two highest courts in Germany : the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Court of Justice . Its most remarkable ___MASK2___ is Karlsruhe ___MASK14___ , which was built in 1715 . Leipzig is the largest ___MASK94___ in the federal state of Saxony , Germany . With a ___MASK15___ of 570 , 087 inhabitants ( ___MASK91___ , 001 , 220 residents in the larger urban zone ) it is Germany ' s tenth most populous ___MASK94___ . Leipzig is located about southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster , Pleisse and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain . Germany , officially the Federal ___MASK85___ of Germany , is a federal parliamentary ___MASK85___ in central - western Europe . It includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' s ___MASK60___ and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . Munich ( also in British English ) is the ___MASK60___ and largest city of the German state of Bavaria , on the banks of River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps . Munich is the third largest city in Germany , after Berlin and Hamburg , and the 12th biggest city of the European Union , with a population of above ___MASK91___ . 5 million . The Munich Metropolitan Region is home to 5 . 8 million people . Frankfurt am Main is a ___MASK17___ and the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth - largest city in Germany , with a 2015 population of 731 , 095 within its administrative boundaries , and 2 . 3 million in its urban area . The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine - Main Metropolitan Region , which has a population of 5 . 8 million and is Germany ' s second - largest metropolitan region after Rhine - Ruhr . Since the ___MASK61___ in 2013 , the geographic centre of the EU is about to the east of Frankfurt ' s CBD , the Bankenviertel . Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse , with around half of the population , and a majority of young people , having a migration background . A quarter of the population are foreign nationals , including many expatriates . Duisburg is a German ___MASK94___ in the western ___MASK93___ of the Ruhr Area (" Ruhrgebiet ") in North Rhine - Westphalia . It is an independent ___MASK45___ borough within Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf . With the world ' s biggest inland ___MASK69___ and its proximity to Düsseldorf ___MASK48___ , Duisburg has become an important ___MASK37___ for commerce and ___MASK54___ production . In the early Middle Ages it was a royal court of the Franks , first mentioned in writing in 883 .