
Monday morning on German roads and rails: Commuters struggle with full closures, delays and full trains.
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The ADAC regularly documents traffic events on German motorways.
Monday morning, 8:45 a.m.: The streets are full. No amount of honking or swearing helps, minutes turn into hours. The ADAC automobile club registered around 496,000 traffic jams on German highways in 2025, especially when many people are on the way to work.
Things don't look much different on the rails: trains are canceled or delayed, buses and trains are packed.

Starting in October, Deutsche Bahn will completely renovate the Berlin–Lehrte route for around 14 months. Long-distance trains between North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin via Hanover will be rerouted via Braunschweig, which will extend the journey time by 80 minutes.
During a journey in Lower Franconia, a carriage door opened for an unknown reason on an ICE train traveling at around 200 km/h. Nobody was injured. A large-scale search for people who may have fallen was initially unsuccessful.

As of today, an alcohol ban applies at the Berlin Hbf, Berlin Gesundbrunnen, Kiel and Braunschweig train stations. Deutsche Bahn wants to ensure more safety and cleanliness. Purchasing alcohol remains possible.
Due to vandalism, there are massive train cancellations, diversions and delays in regional and long-distance services in the Ruhr area between Bochum and Essen. The disruption is expected to last until the evening hours.

Deutsche Bahn is extending its ban on alcohol consumption to four more train stations in Berlin, Kiel and Braunschweig from September 1st. The ban will gradually apply at around 5,400 train stations in the country by October 15, 2026.

In the first half of 2024, almost 8% of all Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains were canceled, a record since 2019. The Greens are demanding urgent measures to improve punctuality and reliability.