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Deutsche Bahn promised more comfort for travelers between Frankfurt and Heidelberg. But there is hardly anything to be seen in the winter timetable that has just been published.
Hesse – Deutsche Bahn is switching fewer IC trains to ICE than initially announced on Bergstrasse when the timetable changes in December. In a press release, the rail company had promised: “On many connections”, the previous Intercity trains will be replaced by more comfortable ICE trains, “for example on the Frankfurt / Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Ulm – Munich route”. A look at the now published timetable, however, shows hardly any changes in the material used.
According to the connection information in Frankfurt, only one ICE starts again to the south, namely at 10:20 a.m. (and without a stop in Bensheim). In the opposite direction, an ICE instead of an IC will arrive in the Main metropolis at 5.40 p.m.
At the request of the Frankfurter Rundschau, Deutsche Bahn confirms that only these two connections between Heidelberg and Frankfurt have changed. The company is now talking about a “gradual conversion of individual IC trips to ICE” – also initially “mainly on the Munich – Ulm – Stuttgart – Karlsruhe axis”. With the summer schedule in mid-June, another train will follow in the morning – four days a week.
Two long-distance transport lines run every two hours on Bergstrasse, which together make an hourly service. Line IC / EC 62, which starts in Frankfurt and runs via Darmstadt to Munich and partly to Austria, is currently affected by the changeover.
The number 26 trains, which start in Karlsruhe and continue north via Frankfurt, Gießen, Marburg and Kassel, are also on the move between Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Heidelberg. Most of the connections here were switched from IC to ICE three years ago, which caused quite a stir. The more modern vehicles bring more comfort. But it also gets more expensive. Because for ICE there are – in contrast to IC – no supplementary tickets for season tickets of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund.
Price example Bensheim – Frankfurt
Anyone who has previously taken the bus to the train station in Bensheim, with the Intercity to Frankfurt and from there by underground, tram or bus, needs an RMV time ticket (annual price: 2,345 euros) and an IC surcharge (317 euros). Makes a total of 2,662 euros.
Anyone traveling with the ICE in the future will need three tickets. The ICE train ticket between Bensheim and Frankfurt (annual price for the main train station: 2,119 euros), a discounted long-distance supplementary card from the RMV (502 euros) for city traffic in Frankfurt and a season ticket from the VRN (662 euros) for city traffic in Bensheim. Total amount: 3,283 euros – that’s 621 euros more than before with the IC variant.
Tip: If you can get off at an S-Bahn station in Frankfurt and come to Bensheim train station by car, you do not need the two additional tickets and only have to pay the ICE ticket. However, the ticket is only valid on Deutsche Bahn trains on the specified route.
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A Railjet, a train of the Austrian Federal Railways, will run on the same tracks. From Frankfurt it goes in the morning via Darmstadt to Lake Constance, to Vorarlberg and Tyrol.
Deutsche Bahn: IC stop for Bad Nauheim and Wetzlar
With the timetable change in December, Deutsche Bahn will connect southern and central Hesse with an additional long-distance line. Travelers from Bad Nauheim, Wetzlar and Dillenburg will then take the Intercity trains every two hours to the West and Central Station in Frankfurt. In the other direction it goes over the Siegerland and Sauerland to Dortmund or Münster – once a day even to the North Sea to Norddeich Mole.
Deutsche Bahn uses Intercity with double-decker cars on the new line. In previous operations in other parts of Germany, some of the trains of this type have proven to be extremely prone to failure. The railway prefers to refer to nine bicycle parking spaces and free WiFi. Local transport tickets are also recognized between Dillenburg and Letmathe.
The Intercity is to roll over a route in North Rhine-Westphalia on which storm damage is to be removed. That could postpone the start.
Improvements in the evenings
During the week, passengers can use an ICE from Munich via Nuremberg and Frankfurt directly to Mainz (8:52 p.m.) and Wiesbaden (arrival 9:05 p.m.). The offer is a replacement for the late ICE, which ran Sunday through Thursday from Munich via Stuttgart and Mainz to Wiesbaden. Even more ICE trains will roll between Frankfurt and Cologne. Commuters in particular: to Limburg Süd and Montabaur should benefit from the hourly service.
Two ICE sprinters a day connect Frankfurt Airport via Nuremberg with Munich in three hours. A direct ICE connection to the airport every two hours with Münster, Osnabrück and Bremen. An alternative for short-haul flights. (Michael Bayer)
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