ICE route closure between Berlin and Hanover extends commuter routes by 14 months

Imagine commuting 65 minutes to work every morning and from one day to the next your commute time triples. This is what will happen to the many people who live in Berlin and work in Wolfsburg from this Friday. Until yesterday there was still a direct ICE connection between the two cities. But from now on the route between Berlin and Hanover is closed for construction work, and commuters first have to take a diversion to Braunschweig and change to the regional train there.

Train drivers are now used to the fact that Deutsche Bahn completely closes sections of the route and replaces tracks and switches so that the trains arrive more punctually. The dimension and duration of this burden are new. Commuters now have to take a detour for 14 months. And not just her. People who travel from the Ruhr area to the capital will also be traveling significantly longer in the future. In addition, freight traffic is suffering from the diversions.