Deutsche Bahn will significantly increase the number of Sprinter connections between Berlin and Frankfurt am Main with the next timetable change. From December 15th, a total of three new trains will be offered per direction and day.
This means that Deutsche Bahn is almost catching up with Lufthansa’s high frequency. According to Deutsche Bahn, the connection is flown twelve times a day in each direction, while Deutsche Bahn has eleven connections, plus the regular ICE connections.
Since connections to Frankfurt am Main are being increased, it can be assumed that the network adjustments will also affect the Lufthansa Express.
There are also other intermodal offers from Deutsche Bahn with transfer guarantees, which were made possible by the railway’s inclusion in the Star Alliance. However, Deutsche Bahn is not specifically responding to the offer.
Also read: Railway with guaranteed connection is growing, new intermodal partners are not in sight
Instead, Deutsche Bahn compares its travel times with typical flight times – including assumed check-in, boarding and arrival times.
The train is consistently slower than the flight, but usually to a limited extent. In addition, the railway is based on original traffic and not on hub traffic.
Complete range of the ICE Sprinter. © Deutsche Bahn { “@context”: ” “@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: ” “copyrightHolder”: {“@type”: “Person”, “name”: “© Deutsche Bahn”} }
According to Deutsche Bahn, demand for Sprinter connections has increased significantly. She speaks of a 70 percent increase in demand between 2019 and 2024.
International connections and changes from Berlin
There is also news in international traffic. Zurich Airport and Swiss, for example, will benefit, because Deutsche Bahn and SBB will run from Munich to Zurich eight instead of seven times a day in the future. Zurich Airport can be reached from Munich main station in around 3:22 to 3:25 hours without having to change trains.
Also read: Swiss expands train-to-flight offer
In addition, from the timetable change, Deutsche Bahn will be running between Berlin and Paris and will be using the new ICE 3 Neo – a rare guest in Berlin. The Neos allocated for this route are approved for French traffic.
The train runs via Frankfurt am Main, but is not suitable as an airport shuttle as it only stops at Südbahnhof. The transfer situation to the airport from there is unfavorable.
Compared to a flight, however, it requires a lot of patience because the connection takes a good eight hours. Here the plane has a clear advantage despite the airports being far away from the city center. Only the competition offers real night trains.
From May 2025, Berlin Brandenburg Airport will no longer be a long-distance stop for an unknown period of time. The IC line between Rostock and Dresden/Chemnitz then leaves out the station. According to Deutsche Bahn, the reason for the change is construction work. Passengers have to transfer to the airport, which sometimes means significant increases in travel time, although this cannot currently be quantified.
Also read: Dresden and Rostock have a special airport train to BER background
This is probably related to the reconstruction of the Dresden railway, which will also enable the new airport express FEX every 15 minutes. Berlin Airport can therefore prepare for further restrictions.
A kiss for Leipzig/Halle
Düsseldorf Airport is not mentioned in the press releases with any major changes from Deutsche Bahn. If there are any changes, they will probably be of a marginal nature for the long-distance airport station.
Leipzig/Halle Airport is also not mentioned separately. Nevertheless, there are signs of a change between Dresden and Halle. Deutsche Bahn has announced that it will be using faster ICs from summer 2025. Instead of the locomotive-hauled IC2 sets from Bombardier with 160 km/h, IC2 multiple units from Stadler (Kiss) are used, which can travel at a speed of 200 km/h.
However, the travel times do not change. Deutsche Bahn uses the higher speed as a punctuality buffer, which can be used primarily between Dresden and Leipzig. The route is largely designed for speeds of 200 km/h. At the airport even 250 km/h is possible. However, the high-speed route section between Halle and Leipzig is quite short, so the 250 km/h speed could hardly be reached with a stop at the airport anyway.
In the further route via Magdeburg to Hanover, the Kiss trains do not benefit from the increase in speed. However, according to Deutsche Bahn, the trains are very fast. This is because the trains were originally designed for S-Bahn trains. Deutsche Bahn will operate around half of the line’s IC connections with the Kiss trains.
Bookable from October 16, 2024
The new trains are not yet stored in Deutsche Bahn’s booking system. This data should be available from October 16th. Then sales of the new tickets will begin.
A short sample from Hamburg (ZMB) or Berlin (QPP) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) at Lufthansa showed that at least Lufthansa Express trains can already be booked. However, airliners.de has not yet managed to achieve the Sprinter travel times.
It is also interesting that Deutsche Bahn will allow bookings within Germany up to twelve months in advance in the future (presumably until the next timetable change). This means that the railway can then also compete with long-term flight bookings.
Previously the limit was a maximum of six months. Currently, due to the timetable change, this has been reduced again to around two months.
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