My ten hours from Munich to Berlin: We tried the 9 euro ticket

Created: 2022-06-02 07:31

By: Leonie Hudelmaier

Our reporter Leonie Hudelmaier traveled from Munich to Berlin on a 9-euro ticket.

© fkn

For nine euros from Munich to Berlin - we tested it.

Our reporter sat on regional trains for over ten hours.

Munich/Berlin – From Munich to Berlin in four and a half hours.

Sounds like an advertising slogan, but is now possible thanks to good route expansion.

But if you spontaneously plan a trip to the capital, you have to pay just under 126 euros an hour before departure, and half an hour beforehand the price even climbs to 146 euros.

But it's also almost free - with the 9-euro ticket, which is now available for three months.

The catch is that the journey takes time.

Is it worth it?

A self-experiment in the ticker.

6.30 a.m.: Blue sky, bright sunshine - perfect travel weather.

There's a lot going on early in the morning at Munich Central Station.

People are queuing at the bakery and in the supermarket.

What will it be like on the trains then?

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: Two minutes late at the start

7:07 a.m.: The train is two minutes late.

The Deutsche Bahn app just said that the RE 1 to Nuremberg is twelve minutes late - but I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised.

And another surprise: The train is hardly occupied - almost empty.

7:30 a.m.: Time for coffee.

In which direction is the on-board bistro?

Ah right, I'm taking the Regio, there's no food - but hopefully a toilet.

And are there power sockets?

7.38 a.m.: Green landscapes and even small poppy fields pass me by.

Actually quite nice to see the surroundings not only in fast forward at over 200 km/h.

The passing trains to Munich look much fuller than this one out of Munich.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: On time in Nuremberg

7.51 a.m .: In Ingolstadt, a few guests get on, but not all seats are occupied.

At the ten-minute stop, there is an ICE a few tracks down.

Finally a way to get WiFi.

No important emails.

Before it continues, the ventilation blows cold air into the carriage briefly and loudly – ​​almost as if the train were breathing in and out.

It's cold in here now.

8.15 a.m .: I am checked for the first time.

A look from the friendly conductor – everything fits!

As if the 9-euro ticket had been around forever.

Update: Sockets can be found under the seat and there are toilets too.

8.47 a.m.: We arrive in Nuremberg on time.

School classes, commuters and travelers bustle about at the main station.

Here it only continues again in 51 minutes.

Time for the long-awaited coffee.

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9.30 a.m.: The RE 42 to Leipzig arrives.

The platform is packed and it takes seven minutes for all passengers to board.

I get a seat, people are standing in the aisles.

The 9-euro ticket is a constant topic of conversation.

A retired couple goes on a hiking trip to Bamberg.

The next-door passenger of the same age is also traveling with the 9-euro ticket – to his class reunion from Stuttgart.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: Nobody gets off in Fürth

9.45 a.m.: We leave eight minutes late.

I wish the cool air from the Nuremberg-Munich Express back.

Only 35 stops left.

9.51 a.m .: In Fürth, nobody seems to get off.

"Please step out of the light barriers," the conductor yells annoyed through the loudspeakers.

11:00 a.m.: The train stops in small villages every three to four minutes.

Pensioners, students, families with small babies and also a policeman who has been traveling from Übersee to Chiemsee since 4.34 a.m. are in the wagons.

His journey takes seven trains to Bremen, arriving at 8:25 p.m.

During the rest of his vacation week, he wants a contrast to the mountains and, as a police officer, wants to "mix anonymously with people".

In comparison, my nine and a half hour drive to Berlin seems almost like a piece of cake.

11.18 a.m .: In Kronach, an ad runs on the platform: “RE 42 is fully occupied today, we recommend alternatives.” However, there are no alternatives here.

Only two of the three toilets are open.

I fight my way through the corridors to the nearest toilet.

The air conditioning seems to work here.

11.40 a.m .: Before Ludwigsstadt, the landscape is no longer so green.

Many trees have been cut down, the landscape is in shades of brown.

13 stops to Leipzig – currently 12 minutes late.

With a transfer time of twelve minutes, it will be difficult to get on the connection.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: the conductor advises planning a lot of time

12:29 p.m .: Two railway employees check the tickets.

The conductor reports that today she had just two passengers who were not traveling with the 9-euro ticket.

"And that's just the beginning," she believes, looking ahead to the holidays.

Whether we can make up for the delay depends on the boarding and alighting time in Jena.

The conductor explains to the guests, who are getting nervous, that “a lot of time has to be planned in” for three months now.

12:58 p.m .: In Camburg, a school class gets on.

Young people who are standing in the aisle are sent away with the words: "You don't have to try it here, it's full." The conductor makes an announcement: Everyone should stow their luggage so that every seat can be occupied.

1:41 p.m .: The atmosphere is slowly becoming tense.

After more than four hours of driving, the baby in the wagon becomes restless.

A woman accuses her husband: "You seem so stressed." A cheap men's deodorant clouds the air.

time to get off.

The first to position themselves at the exits to get their connection quickly.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: Arrival in Leipzig

1.52 p.m .: Arrival in Leipzig!

The connecting train runs opposite, the delay has been made up for, so I don't have to rush too much.

Almost everyone from the Franken-Thüringen-Express changes to the RE 12 in the direction of Magdeburg Hauptbahnhof.

Nice to stretch your legs a bit.

2:04 p.m .: The train leaves, five stops to Dessau.

The Regio is significantly shorter and does not have the classic red DB color, but is grey-silver.

But there is also WiFi.

Again, every seat is occupied.

2:20 p.m.: We drive through smaller villages with abandoned factories.

A father is on his way to vacation with his two small children.

They are loaded with bikes, mail boxes with their luggage in them and lunch in Tupperware.

"Last time the rhubarb pie was better," one child explains to the father.

Then he explains Schafkopf to the children with Bavarian cards – in the middle of Saxony-Anhalt.

2:47 p.m.: We arrive in Dessau on time, the next train will continue in 18 minutes.

There are not as many people on the platform as there were at the stations before.

But I recognize familiar faces from the Franken-Thüringen-Express.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: RE7 to the main station

3.05 p.m .: The last stage!

The RE 7 goes to Zossen and also stops at Berlin Central Station.

On the train is a group of kindergarten children.

They cheer happily that they are heading towards Berlin.

Everyone is probably going to the capital on this train.

3:25 p.m .: The view from the train window reminds me of Bavaria.

Cozily grazing cows pass by, somewhere between Jeber-Bergfrieden and Medewitz.

In fast forward I was in the last hour and a half in the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg.

3:51 p.m .: People keep getting on and off again.

A little boy wearily waves to the departing train.

Tiredness is slowly getting to me too.

I'm glad that Berlin Central Station is only 45 minutes away.

And apparently we're on time.

4 p.m.: It’s closing time in Beelitz-Heilstätten.

The small platform is crowded with people boarding.

4:26 p.m .: Berlin Wannsee.

I think of my swimming trunks, which I didn't pack.

20 more minutes and I'm done.

At least I'm in the right state here.

With the 9-euro ticket from Munich to Berlin: TV tower in sight

4:44 p.m.: I can already see the TV tower.

I'll be in the capital soon.

Behind me, a man is telling the person next to me that he got on the train from Dessau today especially to try out the 9-euro ticket.

4:47 p.m .: Arrived – three minutes late!

I peel myself out of my seat. I still managed to be on time with three changes.

Sure, it's not the holiday season yet, but if you have the muse and time, the 9-euro tour is a very cheap alternative to the ICE for 146 euros.

In addition, you always get into conversation with fellow travelers.

A little tip at the end: It is best to put on different layers of clothing, because the regulation of heat and cold seems to be different in every train.