With billions of euros, the federal government wants to lure people onto trains. To this end, Deutsche Bahn is expanding its offer on important long-distance routes with the winter timetable. This increases the frequency between Berlin and Hamburg. Longer ICE trains will be added from June 2021.
From mid-December, passengers will have more choice on important rail routes. With the timetable change, the daily number of seats in long-distance Deutsche Bahn will grow by 13,000 to 213,000, as the company announced. "On December 13th we are bringing more offers, comfort and more seats in new trains than ever before," said Michael Peterson, head of long-distance transport.
During the day, long-distance trains should run every half hour between Hamburg and Berlin. There alone, the daily number of seats increases by 6,000 to 36,000. The direct ICE service between Bonn and Berlin should also grow. In addition, the EuroCity Express between Munich and Zurich is intended to lure travelers from the plane to the rail.
The federal government supports the railways with billions so that more people take the train instead of getting into the car or plane to protect the climate. By 2026, seat capacity in long-distance traffic is expected to grow by a further 20 percent. From June, new ICE trains with 13 instead of the usual 12 cars will also be running on the Hamburg-Frankfurt-Chur route. They have 918 seats.
There will also be changes on the two routes operated by the private long-distance train provider Flixtrain as of December 13th. The trains on the Cologne-Hamburg route will also stop in Bremen for the first time. The trains between Cologne and Berlin will in future also stop in Stendal, Gütersloh and Hamm.
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