The Berlin-Hamburg railway closed for several months

Berlin/Hamburg. The rail line between Berlin and Hamburg is one of the busiest in the country. Around 30,000 passengers travel by rail between the capital and the Hanseatic city every day.

But the infrastructure is outdated and in need of major upgrades. The connection has been broken twice for several months. The first lockdown starts this Friday. What travelers need to know now.

How long is the road closed?

The construction work is expected to last from this Friday until the change in the timetable on 14 December. There will be significant restrictions on long-distance and regional transport for around four months. “Among other things, more than 74 kilometers of tracks and 100 switches will be upgraded between Wittenberge and Ludwigslust as well as between Hamburg and Büchen and around Hagenow Land,” the railway said.

What is driving during the lockdown?

The long distance trains are rerouted west via Stendal, Salzwedel, Uelzen and Lüneburg. This increases the travel time by 45 minutes. As this route is only partly single track, there is only one long-distance train running between the two largest German cities per hour instead of the previous two. A new bus service will be established for passengers between Hamburg and Wittenberge, which will also run via Ludwigslust. The links are already part of the online timetables and can be accessed through the usual channels.

Are there any other restrictions?

There are. Construction will also start between Hamburg and Schwerin from Friday – until September 29. There are no ICE trains running there at this time. There is a direct connection with new buses. In addition, one Intercity runs through Lübeck every day.

Is this the general update already?

No. With the general upgrade, Deutsche Bahn describes a complete upgrade of more than 40 busy rail corridors in Germany. In this way, the company and the federal government want to redo the aging track network, at least between the important junctions, and increase the reliability of rail transport.

The renovation of the first corridor on the so-called Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim has already been underway for about a month. Next year, the focus will be on the Emmerich-Oberhausen route, which is important for freight traffic, and the Hamburg-Berlin route again.

From August 2025 to April 2026 there will therefore be another closure between the Hanseatic city and the capital. Music, switches, overhead lines, control and safety technology – everything is going to be replaced in these almost nine months. The track will then be free of construction for years and trains will be able to run there more reliably than before.

Why doesn’t the railway do the work at the same time and only close once?

Because the route is so old that some of the work can’t wait any longer. “The construction is necessary in 2024 so that trains can continue to run at full speed and there will be less disruption to the infrastructure,” said a presentation by Deutsche Bahn. The group has investigated to intensify whether the construction work can be combined with the general renovation.However, it is necessary to comply with the statutory maintenance dates, which made it impossible to postpone the work.

Why is the railway aiming for general renewal?

Deutsche Bahn is more invisible than it has been for many years. In the first half of 2024, almost every third long-distance train was late. The group attributes this mainly to the broken infrastructure, in which too little has been invested for decades. The federal government now wants to make up for this with billions. With each upgraded major corridor, reliability across the entire rail network should gradually improve.

For passengers, this initially means additional burdens due to construction-related closures. It may take a few years before things get significantly better. (dpa)