Gera Transportation Tips by Nemorino

Gera Main Station (Hauptbahnhof)

Gera is no longer served by InterCity trains (nor of course by the once very popular InterRegio trains, which have unfortunately been discontinued all over Germany), but it is still well served by Regional Express trains, for example to and from Erfurt and Leipzig, and by the Vogtlandbahn going south to places like Greiz and Plauen.

The Gera Main Station has one thing that makes a visitor from Frankfurt highly envious, namely a bicycle station and bicycle shop right in the railway station, as well as ample roofed-over bicycle stands out front.

Mode: TO

Type: Train

City Train Line 1

When I last visited Gera in 2004, construction was well under way for their new streetcar line # 1, which was scheduled for completion in 2006.

The tracks were already in place in some parts of the city, and work had begun on the section near the theater, which includes a new stop in front of the theater with direct access to the main railway station.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Train

Vogtlandbahn

Rail service in the Elster Valley south of Gera is provided by the Vogtlandbahn, one of the small independent railroad companies (independent of ex-monopolist DB, that is) that have been established in various parts of Germany in recent years.

Trains on the Vogtlandbahn are fast, bright and clean. They are generally on time, except when some DB train gets in the way, and the service is friendly and efficient.

Most times of day this is also the fastest way to get from Gera to Greiz and back, faster than by car unless there is little or no traffic on the roads.

Mode: TO

Type: Train

Website: http://www.vogtlandbahn.de/