Renovation of the railway line completed
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ICE travel time between Hamburg and Berlin is again reduced to less than two hours
Good news for commuters and train travelers between Berlin and Hamburg: When the timetable changes on Sunday, the travel time of the ICE trains will again be less than two hours. The month-long renovation of the route has been completed.
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On the long-distance train connection between Berlin and Hamburg, the trains should be on the move again from this weekend without diversions and interruptions. The three-month renovation work on the high-speed line would be completed on Saturday as planned, Deutsche Bahn announced on Friday.
“When the timetable changes on Sunday, December 12th, the trains will again run between the metropolises at 230 km / h.” Then the driving time should be just under two hours as usual.
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Renovation work since September
Since September the route has been between Berlin-Spandau and Büchen renovated for around 100 million euros. According to the railway, around 400 kilometers of new rails were laid and 24 new points were installed. Around 30,000 tons of ballast were also replaced and the control and safety technology was renewed.
The route is usually one of the most heavily used connections in Germany with an average of around 17,000 passengers per day. From Sunday, around 60 trains will run between Hamburg and the capital every day, according to Deutsche Bahn. During the construction work, the offer was reduced to around 50 trains per day. The travel times had also increased significantly because the trains had to be rerouted.
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Extended Christmas offer
Deutsche Bahn had previously announced that in view of the corona pandemic, it would increase its train offer for the Christmas season. “Around Christmas, from December 22nd to January 2nd, we are also running around 100 special trains, especially on the connections that are in high demand,” said DB Fernverkehr CEO Michael Peterson to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Thursday. “This means that by the end of this year we will have more long-distance trains on the rails than ever before,” continued Peterson.
The railway expects the main traffic this year on the days “directly before and after the two Christmas holidays, ie on December 23rd as well as on December 27th and 28th”, announced the company. The special trains would be used on busy routes such as Berlin-Stuttgart, Berlin-Munich, from NRW to Berlin or Hamburg-Karlsruhe or Essen-Berlin.
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Passenger Association expects delays
“If you have to travel during the days, you should be able to do it safely and with a good feeling,” said Peterson. In addition, other measures such as the mask and 3G obligation, increased cleaning on the trains, but also random checks of the 3G obligation apply. More and longer trains will allow passengers more space and distance on the trains, Peterson said.
The long-distance trains are already booked quite well for Christmas: “The booking figures for Christmas are above the figures of the previous year, but at 35 to 40 percent still well below the level of the pre-Corona year 2019,” said Peterson. Last year, bookings were more than 60 percent below the 2019 level.
Despite the additional trains, the Pro Bahn passenger association expects delays: “The railroad throws everything it has on the rails, nothing more is possible,” said the association’s honorary chairman, Karl-Peter Naumann, on Wednesday of the German press agency. The problem from his point of view: There is no capacity on the routes and in the stations for even more trains.
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Broadcast: radioeins, December 10th, 2021, 5 a.m.
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