The timetable change at Deutsche Bahn is scheduled for December 13th. The rail company then wants to score points with customers with new connections abroad and an expansion of fast Sprinter connections. Tickets can be booked much earlier.
The ailing Deutsche Bahn wants to attract passengers to its trains from mid-December with more connections abroad and another Sprinter line. After the timetable change on December 13th, the federally owned company has more than 320 international trips on offer every day - for example to France, Italy or Austria. There is also a particularly fast connection between Hamburg and Munich: travel time 5.20 hours.
âIn times of expensive fuel, the train remains a good and cheap alternative to cars and planes,â said Michael Peterson, board member for long-distance transport. The railway said that the timetable remained stable overall. Some connections could not be offered, especially due to construction site conditions. The railway continues to fall short of your demands when it comes to punctuality.
Tickets for the new timetable can be purchased from Wednesday. Prices don't rise. Bahn boss Evelyn Palla announced in April that passengers would be spared from price increases on long-distance transport until May 2027.
New Sprinter line between Hamburg and Munich
Deutsche Bahn promises 20 minutes of time savings with the new Sprinter connection between Hamburg and Munich, which runs three times a day in both directions. The trains will only stop in Hanover and Nuremberg. LĂŒneburg, Göttingen or Fulda are no longer a stop between the metropolises.
The existing Sprinter line between Berlin and Stuttgart is being expanded and will in future run three instead of once a day in each direction (4.45 hours). The connection was only introduced a year ago. According to Deutsche Bahn, there will be around 70 Sprinter trips a day on important routes across Germany from mid-December.
âInternational long-distance traffic is boomingâ â the railway has been emphasizing this for years. Accordingly, the federally owned company is continuing to expand its European network. The company is continuing on this path with the new timetable. More than 320 trips a day will soon be going to or coming from cities outside of Germany. That is 20 more than before and around 20 percent more than five years ago. More than 200 cities in 14 countries can then be reached directly from Germany.
International offerings are being expanded
Buying tickets is now easier for train providers in other countries. Customers can already book more than 10,000 European travel destinations in DB Navigator, including tickets from the Austrian Federal Railways, Trenitalia and Eurostar. "By the end of 2026, it should also be possible to book tickets for the Dutch railway NS and the Spanish railway IRYO for travel within the Netherlands and Spain."
According to Deutsche Bahn, more trains will run to Italy, France, Austria and Denmark in the future. The connection between Hamburg and Copenhagen will run seven times a day from March, approximately every two hours from 7 a.m. There are currently five connections a day. In the future, there will also be two more trains per day from Stuttgart to Paris (12 instead of 10), the same applies to the connection between Frankfurt and Vienna (14 instead of 12).
From summer onwards, in cooperation with the Italian Trenitalia and the Austrian Federal Railways, there will be a new direct connection between Munich, Milan and Rome (journey time to Milan around 6.30 hours, to Rome around 8.30 hours).
Jena gets ICE to Berlin again
From Westphalia (including Hamm and Paderborn) the ICE will take you directly to WĂŒrzburg, Nuremberg and Munich. An ICE also runs directly between Jena and Berlin. In addition, there are direct flights from Bonn to Berlin every two hours almost all year round.
What remains are the many construction sites on the railway's sometimes dilapidated rail network. The railways and the federal government want to renovate significantly less busy routes by 2031 than previously planned. But passengers will also have to prepare for construction work and long diversions in the coming year.
The renewal of the approximately 230 kilometer long route between Lehrte and Berlin has already begun. The important east-west connection is completely closed until December 2027. The travel time between Berlin and Hanover will be extended by 80 to around 180 minutes due to the diversion. Some connections are therefore canceled or run less frequently.
High tardiness rate
The renovations between Rosenheim and Salzburg and between Fulda and Hanau are also planned for next year. The railway says diversions and changed travel times have already been included in the travel information. Hopefully there will be no unpleasant surprises. âIf you book your ticket, you will see the applicable travel times.â
Short-term delays are of course still possible. Recently, almost every second long-distance train was late - that is, it arrived at least six minutes late. According to Deutsche Bahn, the punctuality rate for long-distance transport was 52.4 percent in September.
Railway boss Palla had set a punctuality target of at least 60 percent in long-distance transport for the current year. This is likely to be missed. By the end of 2029, at least 70 percent of trains should arrive on time.
