As of today, Deutsche Bahn is renovating the approximately 230 kilometer long route between Berlin and Lehrte near Hanover. To achieve this, the important east-west connection will be completely closed for around 14 months until December 2027. Because the Lehrter main line, which runs parallel to the high-speed line, is not electrified in time, all long-distance trains between Berlin and Hanover have to be rerouted via Braunschweig and Magdeburg at all times.
When does the lockdown start and how long does it last?
The route will be taken out of service early this morning and is expected to be completely closed until the timetable change in mid-December 2027. Until construction work begins in the next few days, the overhead lines must first be switched off, grounded and removed.
Within the next 14 months, the railway plans to replace hundreds of kilometers of switches, tracks and overhead lines. More than two dozen train stations are also to be modernized. The crux of the matter is the renewal of more than 50 kilometers of concrete road in front of and behind Stendal, which need to be renewed.
The aim is for all traffic to be on the route more reliably and punctually once the work is completed. However, this is unlikely to work right from the start, as previous general renovations such as those between Hamburg and Berlin show. In the first few weeks after the major construction site, the system had to slow down - which resulted in poor punctuality on the section.
How do the long-distance trains travel between Berlin and Hanover?
All long-distance trains between Berlin and Hanover are rerouted via Braunschweig and Magdeburg. The state capital of Saxony-Anhalt will thus receive three additional ICE connections to Hanover and North Rhine-Westphalia. The trains will no longer stop in Wolfsburg and Stendal until at least the end of the year. According to Deutsche Bahn, votes are currently underway to determine whether this will remain the case next year. This is a major nuisance for many commuters.
The travel time between Berlin and Hanover will be extended by 80 to around 180 minutes due to the diversion. There should be three long-distance trains in each direction every two-hour period per day. This also affects all connections between the capital and North Rhine-Westphalia. If you want to drive from Berlin to Düsseldorf, you will now have to travel at least five and a half hours.
Originally, long-distance traffic was only supposed to take the major diversion until the end of this year. Then the trains should have been routed over the Lehrter main line, parallel to the high-speed line. This is currently being electrified. However, the construction work has been significantly delayed, meaning that the main line will not be available as an alternative route next year either.
And what about regional transport?
There will also be significant restrictions on local transport. This particularly affects commuters in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. According to its own statements, the railway wants to provide a “reliable basic offer”. Regional trains run between Nauen and Stendal via Wittenberge. However, the stops in between, such as Rathenow, can only be reached via replacement buses. Anyone who has to continue from Stendal to Wolfsburg also depends on the buses. The railway provides information about the individual lines and cycle times on its website.
Why is the lockdown taking so long?
The renovation of the Hanover - Berlin route is part of the so-called general renovation of Deutsche Bahn. More than 40 busy corridors are to be comprehensively modernized well into the 2030s, and an important part of the aging route network in Germany is to be gradually renewed. The railways and the federal government hope that the quality of rail transport will improve significantly.
So that everything can be done in one go, the railway lines are always completely closed for renovation. However, on other major renovations such as the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim or the Hamburg - Berlin line, the construction work was completed after around six months.
The fact that it will now take more than twice as long between Hanover and Berlin is due to the fact that more than 50 kilometers of solid concrete roadway around Stendal need to be replaced. Tens of thousands of tons of concrete slabs have to be torn out and re-laid. According to the railway, there were also permanently installed sections on the other routes. But these were significantly shorter.
What about digitalization?
During past renovations, the railway was repeatedly criticized for not using the long closures to digitally equip the routes. Specifically, it is about expanding the corridors with the digital train control system ETCS.
According to the railway, the route between Berlin and Hanover will not be fully digitalized either. Only 6 of 25 signal boxes along the route will be digitized and prepared for ETCS. The remaining signal boxes will not be converted accordingly until the 2030s. The trains will therefore be dependent on the outdated signaling technology even after the route goes into operation at the end of 2027.
Why is there criticism of the plans?
In particular, the competitor association Die Güterbahnen has been criticizing the concept of general renovations for years. Ultimately, as a result of the closures, freight trains often have to take longer detours than long-distance transport. The association also complains that the diversions were poorly prepared and not sufficiently coordinated with the industry.
Recently there has also been criticism from the Ministry of Transport. There were problems and delays during several general renovations this year. The particularly long route from Hamburg to Berlin, for example, was only completed six weeks late, and long-distance traffic there did not run reliably even after that.
