The Metropolitan (stylised as MetropolitaN) was a premium passenger train service between the cities of Cologne and Hamburg in Germany. Meant as an alternative to air transport, the first-class-only trains were operated from 1 August 1999 until 11 December 2004 by the Metropolitan Express Train GmbH (MET GmbH) based in Bad Homburg, a wholly owned subsidiary of the DB Fernverkehr AG wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. Service was discontinued in December 2004 due to low usage and profitability; the trainsets were deployed in InterCity and Intercity Express traffic before being retired at the end of 2021, when they were offered for sale.