EXPLAINED: The German railcard deal you need to know about

For the whole of April, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn will be selling anniversary railcards for a hefty discount.

A BahnCard 25 for second-class travel will be reduced from €56.90 to €30, while a first-class Bahncard 25 will be reduced from €115 to €60. 

The railcards are valid for 12 months and entitle holders to a 25 percent discount on train tickets nationwide, including 'Sparpreis' and 'Flexpreis' tickets.

What's the German BahnCard?

The BahnCard was first introduced in 1992 and is very popular for those who want to bag cheaper train tickets.

Within 100 days of its introduction, around 700,000 rail passengers had purchased the new card, which allowed them to get heavily discounted rail travel across the Bundesrepublik. This number has since grown into 4.5 million, equating to around five percent of the German population.

However, Deutsche Bahn were keen to point out that the railcard is not just a success with people in Germany.

Apparently, 200 Canadians, 22 Argentinians and 14 New Zealanders abroad own a BahnCard - and there's even one BahnCard customer on the Christmas Islands.

In Germany, the highest percentage of BahnCard fans live in Merzhausen, a municipality in the Black Forest. Nearly every fourth person in Merzhausen owns a BahnCard.

"The Bahncard has been making rail travel cheaper for 30 years," said Michael Peterson, chairman of DB Fernverkehr's management board.

"This means that the second generation of BahnCard holders is already growing up, and we can see that the BahnCard is particularly popular with these young customers. Every third BahnCard holder is 30-years-old or younger."

Is the deal worth it?

Some simple maths can help travellers work out if the discounted railcard is worth it. 

To break even, a passenger with the second-class BahnCard 25 would have to spent €120 on train tickets over the course of a year. To put this in perspective, that's about €40 less than the cost of a last-minute return journey from Berlin to Frankfurt.

For first-class travellers, the spend would have to go up €240 over the course of the year, though this won't be a particularly difficult figure to reach for anyone travelling first class on a German train. 

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to find cheap train tickets in Germany

How can I get the offer? 

To take advantage of the discounted offer, head to the Deutsche Bahn website and order your BahnCard 25 by April 30th. 

While you're on there, take a look at the other offers available - if you're a young person, for instance, you may find an even cheaper deal on a railcard. 

If you've already bought a BahnCard 25 at the more expensive price, you can set the start date of your new BahnCard to the day after the expiry date of your current card.

This will prevent you from having to pay twice in the same period. 

It's also worth noting that the railcard is primarily for long-distance train travel. If you're looking for a cheaper local ticket, keep an eye out for the €9 monthly ticket that's set to be introduced by the German government in the coming months.

READ ALSO: When will Germany introduce the €9 monthly travel ticket?