Almost every half hour, the ICE rushes back and forth between the two largest cities of Hamburg and Berlin – the journey time between the two metropolises is around 100 minutes. The route, which is around 280 kilometers long, is one of Deutsche Bahn’s most profitable routes – around 30,000 people use it every day.
You will have to temporarily adjust to longer travel times between the Spree and the Elbe in the future. The railway wants to completely renovate the route and therefore close it between June and December 2025. This results in detours for the trains.
Among other things, switches, tracks and overhead lines are to be renewed, the group announced on Friday. In addition, the digital railway operation is to be prepared, signal boxes have to be renovated for this. Renovation work is also to take place at the Unterweg stations. Additional tracks are also to be built so that faster trains can overtake slower ones. The work is “central building blocks” for the desired “high-performance network,” said railway spokesman Richard Lutz. Deutsche Bahn opted for a general renovation instead of a step-by-step approach. That means: Instead of many shorter closures of the route, there is only one longer one.
During construction, trains will be diverted via a southern route that does not allow maximum speeds. Passengers will therefore travel significantly longer between the two metropolises, the increase in travel time will be between 45 and 105 minutes. Replacement services are to be set up in regional transport. However, the exact timetables for 2025 have not yet been determined.
Between 2024 and 2026, the freight axis between Emmerich and Oberhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia is also to be renovated. It is considered the “artery for European freight traffic between Rotterdam and Genoa,” according to Deutsche Bahn in its statement.
Deutsche Bahn has set itself the goal of renovating at least two so-called high-performance corridors every year from 2024 in order to make the German rail network fit for the future. In many parts it is considered to be overburdened and dilapidated due to the investment backlog in recent decades. The result is a lack of punctuality – and discourages passengers.
However, the railway should win customers. The federal government wants their number to double from 2020 to 2030. This goal is also served by the planned Germany cycle, in which the long-distance trains run at a reliable cycle between the major German cities – this also requires major investments in the rail network.
Sources: Deutsche Bahn, DPA news agency
