The Goethe was an express train that, for most of its existence, linked Paris-Est in Paris, France, with Frankfurt Hbf in Frankfurt, Germany. Introduced in 1970, it was operated by the SNCF and the Deutsche Bundesbahn / Deutsche Bahn (DB).
The train was named after the German author and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who lived in Frankfurt.
Initially, the Goethe was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE). It originally was scheduled to operate westbound in the morning and eastbound in the late afternoon and evening. However, at the start of the summer 1972 timetable period, on 28 May, the schedule was reversed, with the TEE Goethe now scheduled to leave Paris at 8:00 and Frankfurt at 16:15.[1] On 31 May 1975, it was discontinued, replaced by an unnamed two-class express train running on a similar schedule over the same route.[2]