Latest German Fad: Leasing Out the Subway

With smooth-running trains, bright, well-kept stations and a blissful lack of crowds, Frankfurt's subway is a pleasant surprise for people from more teeming cities.

For American visitors who cannot get enough of the U-Bahn subway system, Frankfurt is making a special, once-in-a-lifetime offer: lease the whole system for 99 years with an upfront payment of roughly $100 million. Frankfurt will even throw in its above-ground streetcar network. <more>

'German tax authorities take a clever view,'' said Ulrich Eder, the managing director of a tax advisory firm in Düsseldorf that specializes in cross-border leases. ''They say that the city is receiving a cash benefit for enabling the lease holder to gain a tax benefit.''