Deutsche Bahn 2024 Timetable Changes: What to Expect for North Rhine-Westphalia and Beyond

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Stand: October 12, 2023, 7:12 p.m

Von: Jonah Reule

Deutsche Bahn’s 2024 timetable will apply from December 10, 2023. Passengers from NRW benefit from longer trains and new connections.

Cologne – Significant change at Deutsche Bahn: From December 10, 2023, exactly two weeks before Christmas Eve, there will be a complete timetable change. From then on, the 2024 timetable will officially apply. According to Deutsche Bahn, there will then be more long-distance rail connections than there have been in 20 years. With the start of the new timetable, more trains will also run to and from North Rhine-Westphalia. With the timetable change, some long-distance tickets on Deutsche Bahn will also become more expensive. 24RHEIN gives an overview of the upcoming innovations.

Winter railway timetable from December 10, 2023: What changes are there for NRW?

There is a big change on the route between North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin. According to the DB, longer trains should be used there on the existing long-distance routes. According to Deutsche Bahn, this increases the number of seats for travelers by 20 to 25 percent. In addition, around 40 percent more ICE stops to and from Berlin will be offered for Bielefeld than before.

There is also a new ICE line Berlin-Wuppertal-Cologne that runs every two hours. This means that there is no longer any need to split and couple the ICE train in Hamm every two hours. “This shortens the travel time between the Rhine and Spree by up to ten minutes and the ICE trains via Dortmund and Düsseldorf can then run every two hours with double capacity,” says Deutsche Bahn.

Faster by train from NRW to Holland

According to Deutsche Bahn, the travel time on the two-hour intercity line Berlin–Hannover–Osnabrück–Rheine–Amsterdam is reduced by around 30 minutes. This is achieved by using multi-system locomotives, which eliminate the need for time-consuming locomotive changes at the border, according to the railway. From Rheine in North Rhine-Westphalia, the journey time to Amsterdam will in future be around 2 hours and 25 minutes. In the future, departures from Amsterdam will take place every two hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Deutsche Bahn: From Düsseldorf take the ICE straight to the sea

According to Deutsche Bahn, with the new 2024 timetable, an existing ICE from Stuttgart will travel on Saturdays via Siegburg/Bonn (from 8:31 a.m.) and Düsseldorf (9:14 a.m.) without changing trains via Münster to Emden and to the Norddeich Mole ferry pier (arrival at 12:59 p.m.). ).

Deutsche Bahn winter timetable: More trips between Berlin and Munich

Deutsche Bahn is also offering more long-distance journeys between Berlin and Munich from December 10th. Twice as many sprinters as before will be used on the route. This means there will also be up to 25 percent more seats between Berlin and Bavaria. According to the railway, the following changes are planned:

• ICE line Berlin–Nuremberg–Munich: Additional sprinter line creates up to 14 trips per direction per day.
• In addition, it connects new Sprinter line Berlin–Nuremberg–Munich the cities three times a day with no additional stops. This means passengers can reach their destination around 15 minutes faster

Winter train timetable: journeys from Berlin to Amsterdam up to 30 minutes faster

On the Berlin-Hannover-Amsterdam route, travel time will be reduced by around 30 minutes with the start of the winter timetable. “This is achieved through the use of multi-system locomotives, which eliminate the time-consuming change of locomotives at the border, and a new stopping concept on this line,” said the railway.

2024 timetable for the railway: More trains also around Magdeburg and Leipzig

The railway will also increase its offering in other regions in the future. This affects both the east of Germany around Jena and Leipzig, as well as the north with numerous new connections to Hamburg and Rostock via Magdeburg. From December 2023, long-distance traffic there should look like this:

Bahn will use new vehicles in 2024 and offer more night services

There will also be changes to the vehicles used on the routes from December 10th. In the future, the ICE 4 will also travel across borders to Austria, replacing the intercity trains previously used. “The DB is putting further modern ICE 3neo trains, some with new interior design, on the rails between North Rhine-Westphalia, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich, as soon as approval is available, also on the routes to Amsterdam and Brussels,” said the railway. According to Deutsche Bahn, new Railjet trains from the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) will also replace the EC trains in Brenner traffic between Munich and Italy.

ÖBB and DB are expanding their cooperation in night traffic. From December 10th, ÖBB and Deutsche Bahn will be offering Nightjet connections from Berlin to Paris and Brussels. The new ÖBB couchette cars will also be used. According to Deutsche Bahn, the new night train connection will initially run three times a week. From autumn 2024, the Nightjets will even operate daily. In addition, further night trains are planned in Germany.

Train timetable change: Tickets can be booked from October 11th

Tickets for the new winter timetable can be purchased since October 11th. The tickets are available both online and in the local railway travel centers.

It is likely that the prices for long-distance tickets will rise. “Of course, we also have to think about our fares in view of the general price development,” said Michael Peterson, railway board member for long-distance transport, to the on September 29, 2023 German Press Agency (dpa). “We will inform passengers about this in good time in October.” (jr) Fairly and independently informed about what is happening in Cologne, Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia – subscribe to our free 24RHEIN newsletter here.