On December 11, the new Deutsche Bahn timetable will come into force. The company promises more long-distance connections, at least on important routes, and the new ICE 3 Neo. However, punctuality remains a problem - also because a number of new construction sites are planned for 2023.
Whether from Cologne to Munich, from Hamburg to Frankfurt or from Berlin to Warsaw: With the timetable change in long-distance Deutsche Bahn, passengers on important routes should be able to travel more frequently and faster from mid-December. A new night train line of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) between Prague, Berlin and Zurich should then start, as announced by Deutsche Bahn.
In particular, the completion of the new Wendlingen-Ulm line, which along with Stuttgart 21 is part of the Stuttgart-Ulm railway project, will create additional capacity between north-west and southern Germany. "The new route will also connect the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria even faster and more frequently," said long-distance transport board member Michael Peterson at the presentation of the new timetable, which will come into force on December 11th.
Among other things, Peterson announced that in future he would offer a direct connection between Cologne and Munich twice an hour. There should also be more connections to Frankfurt Airport, especially from cities in the north. "The Basel-Cologne-Dortmund ICE line will be extended to Hamburg, which will further improve the quality of the axis between the cathedral city and the Hanseatic city," said the railway. "This means that travelers from Münster, Osnabrück and Bremen can get to Frankfurt Airport even more frequently without having to change trains."
The first trains of the so-called ICE 3 Neo are to be in service between North Rhine-Westphalia and Frankfurt from mid-December - a new train based on the well-known ICE 3, from which the railway will receive three dozen new vehicles in the coming year. They should then be on their way from Dortmund via Cologne in the direction of the Main. In the course of the coming year, the new vehicles will also be used between Dortmund and Munich. Starting in December, Deutsche Bahn will also be offering regular services from Berlin to Prague and from Stuttgart to Zurich.
There are also changes to ÖBB's night train offerings. In the coming year, a new night line will connect Prague and Zurich via Berlin, Leipzig and Erfurt, the railway said. "The existing Zurich-Hamburg night train will change its route from the timetable change in the north and will then also connect Bruchsal, Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Hanau, Verden and Nienburg to international night train traffic," it said.
However, the numerous frequency increases next year say little about the reliability of the express trains. At least Peterson did not have a new punctuality target for 2023 ready. The only thing that remains clear is that numerous construction sites will continue to slow down traffic in the coming year. Between Fulda and Kassel and on the Berlin-Dresden route, for example, connections would have to be withdrawn for several weeks, and trains would take longer, emphasized Peterson. "Construction measures lasting several weeks are already included in the new timetable".
From the point of view of the honorary chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, Karl-Peter Naumann, the construction measures are extremely necessary in many places. "It's more likely that too little will be built here than too much," he said. "There are also good options for diversion. That's not the really big problem." With the timetable change on December 11, the new offers are accompanied by an increase in fares. Deutsche Bahn then raises long-distance transport prices by an average of five percent. The group had already announced this at the end of September. The so-called flex tickets then even cost almost seven percent more.
