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ICE in Berlin (symbol image)
Photo: Jörg Carstensen / dpa
Passengers on the busy Berlin-Hamburg railway line will have to be prepared for longer travel times and restrictions for around six months in 2025 - but after that everything should get better.
Between June and December 2025, the railway wants to completely block and rehabilitate the 280-kilometer route, as the group announced.
The newspapers of the Funke media group had previously reported.
During the six-month construction work, tracks, switches, overhead lines and signal boxes are to be modernized.
According to the report, train stations are to receive new platform roofs, weather shelters and signage systems, and accessibility is also to be improved.
In Hagenow-Land and Wittenberge, the track infrastructure is being expanded to create overtaking opportunities for trains.
The entire corridor is also to be equipped for digital rail operations, for example via the ETCS train control system.
Refurbishment also planned on the Emmerich-Oberhausen route
The railways are setting up diversions for long-distance and freight traffic.
During the renovation phase, the trains are to run via Uelzen, Salzwedel and Stendal as well as via Hanover.
"Depending on the detour route, travelers have to plan between 45 and 105 minutes more time," it said.
In regional traffic, replacement traffic should be on the move on the affected sections.
Deutsche Bahn also wants to renovate the Emmerich-Oberhausen route in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is important for freight traffic.
The 72-kilometer section is part of the European connection between Rotterdam and Genoa and, according to the information, cannot be closed for a longer period of time.
"Therefore, the renovation will be carried out between November 2024 and June 2026 with scheduled closures and with predominantly single-track operation on the basis of the agreements made with the Netherlands."
The infrastructure of the railway is completely overloaded in many places and in great need of renovation.
As a result, the trains are less reliable and less punctual than they have been in years due to the large number of small-scale construction projects.
In the summer, Deutsche Bahn therefore announced the so-called general renovation of its network and identified several corridors with a particular need for modernization.
The company is also currently suffering from the corona pandemic - the lack of staff is slowing down more and more trains.
The group reacts to this with emergency timetables.
Read more about this here.
more on the subject
High sick leave, vacancies: Deutsche Bahn has to cancel tens of thousands of train journeysBy Florian Diekmann
Instead of countless individual measures that have repeatedly slowed down traffic on these routes over the years, the corridors are now to be completely closed and modernized for a limited period of time.
As a result, no more construction work will be necessary there in the foreseeable future and trains will be able to run without restrictions.
ani/dpa
